You're Not My Type
by katietheryn1
Summary: Bella was never really Bella, but a vampire with a wild history. After Edward leaves, she moves on back to her old life. Katherine is dead, and she's in love again with a very different vampire: Damon! But the Cullens aren't out of her life forever. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:::** The first chapter here will be mostly all diary entries by Bella so that when I start writing, the plot line will be all set up and I get can get to the fun parts. Thanks so much for reading!!!

**Isabella**

_December_

_Dear Diary,_

_After half a century, I'm no longer going to be Katherine's shadow. I'm tired of all her evil and treating me like we weren't equals. I used to think of us as best friends, but I was wrong. It was just she and I, no Klaus or Salvatore brothers. And I'm sick of it._

_I'm here in the United States now, on my own for the first time in my eternal life as a vampire. I grew up in Italy with Katherine and the Salvatores – Damon and Stefan. I was Katherine's new friend when she came to town: I was always a bit slower, behind her, never doing anything for herself – I was a follower, standing in her shadow. Of course I was – she was already a very dangerous vampire. Katherine changed me when I was 17, during her love affair with both the Salvatores. I had tried to kill myself… I loved the older one, Damon. She pitied me, and maybe even cared about and loved me, so she changed me. But then the two brothers killed each other and broke her heart, so we left._

_I had stayed with her and Klaus for some years after the Salvatore heartbreak for both of us. Klaus taught us evil, and eventually we killed him together and left for England and the Americas. We had fun doing evil and seducing boys, but I didn't want that anymore – at least with her. I didn't want to follow her around doing what she wanted. Now, I don't know why I ever did. I was as strong, if not stronger than her. I was faster, more skilled, and just as bad. I just couldn't stand being around her. Of course, I cared to much about her after all this time to just kill her – I left while she was sleeping. I left her no note and flew away as fast as possible in my eagle form._

_I am in Washington State now. I left her in Argentina, and have come a long way. I'm sitting in a tree outside of a small town called Forks, writing this – I think I was compelled to come here because of the many ley lines I sense. I bought you, Diary, in a craft store right down the road. No one will see me – I'm too high up in the trees. I'll sleep here tonight – I've yet to go to a bank; I have millions stashed in my account._

_I just want to say this, because it's always been true and always will be: I am in love with Damon Salvatore. I haven't seen him in half a century, but I am in love with him. I know we'll see each other again._

_Isabella Rosalini_

I closed up my new little diary and stretched my arms and legs out, getting comfortable on the tree branch. Thank god my clothes were just simple jeans, converse, and tee and an Italia soccer sweatshirt. I constantly changed and left behind my outfits and belongings in various places as Katherine and I had traveled. But that was the past, and this was me now.

I lay my head back down, resting my diary on my stomach, and fell into a still and tranquil sleep.

***

_January_

_Dear Diary,_

_I have been here for two weeks now – happy new year! I felt that I must stay for something, and I now know what it is. In this town, there was a girl who looks just like me – my practical splitting image! She just drove into town yesterday with the police chief. Her name is the same as mine, too – Isabella – and she seems shy and a bit awkward. How weird is that? I have kept my hood up, even in the cloud cover, so that no one mistakes me for her in public._

_I went by her house hours ago in the night out of boredom. So, anyway, I went up to her window to take a peak, and bam – she'd stabbed herself on her bed! Depressed, much? As my first devilishly sudden and absolutely crazy act, I have decided to take her place. I 'disposed' of her body (yum) and am now her. Looking through the room and listening to her father – the police chief - and his thoughts a bit, I know that I am Bella Marie Swan, his daughter, who just moved here from Phoenix because my eccentric mother was just remarried to a traveling baseball amateur._

_This decision was an impulse. I will be a shy, klutzy girl attending Forks High tomorrow - and for a time period that has not yet been defined. I have no clue what will happen. I can just hope that fun and guys might be involved eventually after Bella gets over her 'shyness'._

_Isabella (Swan!) Rosalini _

_***_

_The Next Day_

_Dear Diary,_

_Oh, god!!! There are some definitely inhuman things at my new school! And one of them who's really hot –Edward – was acting so weird to me. They don't have a heart beat! And he acted like I smelled bad. What the hell are he and his adopted family? All his siblings are dating. I have a funny feeling the ley lines didn't just draw me in – the undead come in many different packages, you know._

_I spent the day trying to be Bella-like, and it worked. Yet, I still compelled the humans to love me. Mike Newton might be a fun screw, but I don't know yet. Jessica Stanley was really into him, and I don't know if I'll let her have him or if I'll use him for a blood bank. I've already fed off of the native boy who came to visit the dead girl buried in the backyard. His name was Jacob, and he was cute. I mentally influenced him before and after, so he had no clue what the hell was going on._

_The Cullens – that's the mystery family's name – are definitely going to make this a fun experiment. Isabella Rosalini, undead party girl turned awkward high school student. What would those I've met and known over the years all say? It's like I'm dressing up for a role when I put on her clothes in the morning. But I hate Bella's wardrobe._

_I never influenced the Cullens, because I wanted to watch them and their reaction to me. Only Edward seemed to notice I existed, and he loathed me or something like that. I'll let the family do what they like, but I swear that I'm going to crack this mystery nut that is the Cullen family._

_I'm going to sign as me for as long as I have you, Diary. You are my prized possession. NO one shall find you, or else they become snack food faster than I can run to the Thriftway and back._

_Forever, Isabella Rosalini_

_February_

_Guess what, Diary?_

_Edward Cullen is back at school! And he talked to me. He creeps me out: in the way where I can barely resist him. It's weird._

_Isabella Rosalini_

_***_

_March_

_Oh, Diary-_

_I'm so in love! Edward and I are together, and he's a different kind of vampire! He's much too good, though – he feeds off of animals, something I have never even considered. And he's not even near half my age – he was born in 1901, centuries after me._

_And he has no clue what I am. I am in love with him, but he's in love with Bella Marie Swan. He thinks that I'm her and I'm human._

_I'll tell him when the time is right, when I'm done having my fun playing human._

_So we went out I the sun together – I with my ring he hasn't noticed yet – and he doesn't even perish in sunlight. In fact, he sparkles like a diamond! It's beautiful and completely hilarious! I know so much about him, and he knows so much that I made up about Bella._

_What they all say if they were here with me, or watching me? Katherine, Klaus, Stefan, and… Damon. I haven't thought about him often, but yes, I do love him. I don't know… It's just so complicated. But Edward never has to know a thing._

_Isabella Rosalini_

_***_

_September_

_Oh dear God, Diary._

_Tomorrow is Bella's birthday, which she will hate __. I have been through a lot of crazy shit with Edward, but we love each other. I have asked him to 'change' me into a vampire like him __, but I influenced him to say no. It's part of the act towards him and his family._

_I love his sister Alice, and wish desperately that I could tell Rosalie my secret – then she wouldn't hate me so much. I love Emmett and Jasper, too, and Esme and Carlisle are okay. Edward is just so Edward. I love him. This is my life._

_I haven't hinted at anything that I'm a vampire. I can't yet, now, or maybe even ever. Oh, god, I'm in a deep hole. I used to have fun doing this, but then he changed everything and if I come out a vamp now he'll hate me or something. He can harm he physically and mentally – and only by leaving. I might just kill myself if he found out and left me._

_He won't leave me though. I'm unwilling to influence him on a grand scale like that, but he's too in love with me… or Bella Swan, the act. It would kill him too, I'm sure of it. It saddens me so deeply that he's probably just in love with Bella, and not the real me. He's too good for me; I'm just too bad._

_Isabella Rosalini_

_***_

_The Next Week_

_NO, Diary, NO._

_He's gone; he's left me because he thought I was in danger of his kind. I am his kind! Ha! I'm perfectly capable of killing him, and he thought he was a danger to me?_

_I don't know what to do. I didn't go after him; I wouldn't know where to look first. I can't believe what's going on. I've been so still (a vampire thing) for the past week that people are wondering if I've gone mad. No, I'm just thinking._

_I think I might leave now. Go find Katherine again, or maybe stay on my own. Flee to a ley line covered spot, and hope something there might spark my attention. I'm fairly heartbroken. I'm dead – it shouldn't even be beating. But it is, as the tide rises and the tide falls. Things move on, maybe even me._

_I'll leave tonight. I'll make the town think that Bella Swan died tonight. I'll dig up her body in the backyard, and as it's already trashed as hell from me, you wouldn't be able to tell when the body died. The knife is still in her chest – I'll just scream and then make a break for it. Charlie and the town will get what should have happened almost a year ago. His daughter will be pronounced dead._

_Goodbye, Forks. I really won't miss you at all._

_I am so not in love with Edward fucking Cullen anymore._

_Isabella Rosalini_

I closed the book and hopped down from my bed, and I changed into my original outfit. I felt like myself, my real self, once again. I could be me without hiding now. Slipping out the window, I headed to the moonlit backyard at midnight.

I dug up the grotesque body with my bare hands and dusted her off a bit. No one would know the difference with a bit of dirt in her hair and on her face. I cut my arm and let some of my fresh blood flow onto her shirt and bed. I let out a blood-stopping scream, alerting Charlie from downstairs.

I jumped out the window and ran where the wind took me.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N::: **For the Vampire Diaries aspects of this story, it's post Dark Reunion, with none of Nightfall's Shinichi or Misao planned anywhere in the near future. Thanks for reading don't forget to review!!! :D Shout-outs to lips of the devil, EMMETT GIVES THE BEST BEAR HUGS, Twilight Crazy Fan, & anneryn7!!!!

**Isabella**

I flew towards the point the world was pulling me. Gravity was working its magic to bring me to this one spot; I knew it. I could feel the wind pushing me onward, like I was fated to be wherever it was taking me. It was a funny thing, how ley lines worked. Creatures with Power were just kind of brought to the spots; the Power of the places themselves did that, I think.

I knew I was in Virginia now. I swooped down in my eagle form and watched the state as I passed through it. I knew I was stopping here somewhere. It was early afternoon, probably around only 1 or 2 hours past midday. I could never really tell – after so many centuries I still couldn't time things correctly. It was just one simple thing I would never be able to do, like many things.

I could act, that was for sure. Just ask anyone back in Forks. But as myself, I was fairly limited. I could dance, seduce, drink, be funny, and yet be completely void of any and all attention. I was good at hiding and blending in. But I had never wanted to be, because that was me when I was basically hiding behind Katherine. I wanted to be sweetly alluring, in the spotlight, bold and fierce and irresistible. That would be the new me. That had really been me all along, and now was the time to flaunt myself like the independent girl I now was.

I felt myself being pulled down, and I knew the pull wouldn't give up until I gave in first, so I let it take me down towards the ground. I was beside a highway, and I perched myself on a sign that read: _Welcome to Fell's Church, Virginia. _A small town; how fun. Perfectly low-key enough to feed freely.

I flew out into the trees along the road and flew to downtown. I scoured the place, taking it all in and memorizing the streets and shops and faces. I knew I would most likely be here for a while. I liked the feel of this cute little town; it obviously a civil war battle site or something from the looks and feel of the place.

I flew farther through town, and people at some bistros and shops and just pedestrians from the street looked up the rare sight of an eagle. Some pointed and some stared, and others just glanced and returned again to their believably safe, normal lives. They didn't know the many dangerous things their town attracted, did they?

I flew behind a building and into a back street, where I changed forms and walked out into the streets. I was going to buy myself a pair of sunglasses. The sun was burning down in the heated temperature of September, and my eyes were in literally scorching pain. I ran at human speed to a sunglasses store, where I quickly influenced the lone cashier to think I'd paid. I grabbed my new Dolce & Gabbana shades and walked out into the nice, warm late summer day. I could have sworn I'd seen two bite marks on the young female cashier's neck as she turned away from me.

I avoided human contact as I backed away from the public eye, and then I changed back into eagle form and took off. The wind blew me towards the wood on the far side of town, pushing me down a long, ominous road. I knew it was leading me to something at the end of that road: my final destination from across the country. I had come all the way from the Olympic peninsula in the Pacific Northwest to this one little spot. This had to be important, or else I'd just have to spice this town up by myself.

As I neared the end of the road, I saw a small boarding house of sorts. I could feel the Power coming from that building, and knew that its inhabitants were most likely of my kind. Hopefully my _type_ of kind, too – I'd had enough glitter and sparkles for one eternity, and the thought of them now was just kind of a bit depressing.

As I made my way into the clearing area that served as part garden, walkway, and driveway, I changed into my vampire form and approached the front door. I wasn't quite sure what to expect as I stepped up to the door. In the parking lot were two sports cars: a Jaguar and a Ferrari! For the briefest moment, I hesitated about whether now was the right time to just walk up to the place and try to get myself invited in. But I brought myself to do so, straightening out my Italia sweatshirt and removing my new sunglasses. I checked my reflection in them – fabulous messy sex hair, I must say – and slipped them on top of my head in the most perfectly presentable position.

I took a deep breath for no real apparent reason. I guess it was to ready myself for whatever lay ahead of me. I walked up to the front door and raised my fisted hand. I banged it on the door three times in a polite fashion. I could faintly hear small, delicate footsteps coming towards me, hopefully very eager to invite me in.

A small old woman opened up the door to me, smiling calmly. She just stood there, taking me in. She didn't look like she had any immediate intentions to let me inside. From the look in her eyes, I could tell that she knew what I was. But she didn't seem afraid.

"Hello, sweetie, and you are?" she asked politely, unmoving from her block on the door.

"Isabella. Isabella Rosalini," I answered truthfully. I had a feeling I could trust this little old lady.

"Do you need a place to stay for the night, dear?" she asked smoothly. She still looked very unafraid of me.

"Yes, thank you. A while, actually. May I come in?" I blatantly threw the question out there, internally begging she would just give in. I tried to compel her to say yes for a quick second, but I stopped myself. I wanted to trust her, and she probably had vervain on her somewhere anyway.

"I see that I can trust you, and you don't look like to much trouble, so yes, you may come in. But, Isabella darling, you have been warned." She finally stepped back and allowed me to enter into the boarding house. I stepped up into the doorway, testing my ability to enter for a moment. I smiled and walked into the darkened hall. I followed the old woman upstairs as she made her way to the second story. I trailed her as she walked down another hallway with a couple of spread out doors lining it. She stopped in front of one and pulled out a small key, opening the door up.

"There are other boarders," I stated, not even making a question out of it. She just swung open the door and motioned me to follow her in. It was a small, homey little bedroom with a bathroom behind a door off to the side. There was a closet, bureau, queen size bed, and nightstand for furniture. I liked it already.

"Yes, I'm Mrs. Flowers, dear. You need anything and I'm downstairs, where I stay. There's a living area and kitchen down there, too. You ever need anything and I'm almost always around. You can pay your rent when you're ready; you don't seem to have anything with you. No bags. You must have come a long way. Why don't you rest?" she babbled sweetly, motioning for me to relax. I sat down on the bed, and she stood there in front of me, watching and waiting to make sure I that was comfortable and satisfied.

"Oh, Mrs. Flowers? Thank you," I said. She smiled and nodded at me, then turned around and walked out the door, leaving the key on the bureau for me. I fell back on the bed and sunk into the sheets. I let myself relax, my muscles calming and loosening. And then I started to listen. Mrs. Flowers was still making he way down the stairs and probably to her room. But I wasn't listening for her. No, I was trying to hear anyone else in the vicinity.

There was a very clearly loud laugh ringing out in the room further down the hall from me. It was feminine, sweet, happy, and child-like; it made me want to smile. I could hear the girl giggle and squeal, not speaking any coherent words. "Stefan!" the voice shouted, and a faint chuckle could also be heard. This was more masculine. There was only one real possibility: a guy and his girlfriend.

Only, there was a very strong Power coming from those sounds, and that room. I could feel it in my veins, teeth, and soul. It told me that those were not humans messing around in that room. So I sat up and stood, walking into the bathroom and checking my appearance. I was presentable. So I continued on out my door with my room key now in my jean pockets. I strutted down the hall, head held high and senses on overload. The couple in the far room knew I was coming. They had heard everything with Mrs. Flowers and I earlier. I bet they were laughing at something about me.

I finally got to their door and knocked my fist lightly on the door twice. I heard footsteps coming – larger obviously male ones – and the door opened. Oh, I had not been ready to that face. Not at all.

**Stefan**

We had a new neighbor, and gosh did she have Power. Elena was human again, after her miraculous return from the undead-dead and angel phase. She couldn't sense what was going on, but I knew that we had another vampire moving in.

I heard the girl talking with Mrs. Flowers, and then she was alone, quiet as could be. I had hushed Elena so that we could listen in, but now we were both so quiet that Elena couldn't control herself. She burst out laughing at how we were both trying to listen in on each other, and so there was nothing to hear for either of us.

"Stefan!" she giggled, and I caught her in my arms. We sat on my bed, originally just talking before our new neighbor showed up.

I heard the girl getting up and walking about now, and she eventually left her room. She was walking towards ours. I hope this confrontation ended well. Elena and I listened as she knocked ever so delicately and promptly on our door. I kissed Elena on the forehead, stood up, and walked to the door. I turned the doorknob slowly, not sure who the girl on the other side was. She had given nothing away during her talk with Mrs. Flowers. I opened the door slowly, and really, the person on the other side was not someone I would have ever expected. Brunette hair, pale skin, slender figure, big brown eyes, Italia sweatshirt. It was totally not…

"No," she whispered softly, and then she launched herself at me, throwing her arms around me. "Stefan! You're dead, but you're not dead, you're here, and you're a vampire, too! Oh, Stefan!" she screamed.

"Isabella Rosalini, long time no see," I said as I pulled back a bit and smiled at her. I thought that she had been dead. But I truly had missed the girl I had met when I was only 4.

**A/N:::** Please REVIEW!!! Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N::: **Special shout-outs and thanks toPhoenix Whitlock, Hazelholly, aixa00, beverlie4055, The Covenant Caleb And Chase, - DAMON – AND – ELENA - , rosejoanna, and Dark-Supernatural-Angel!!!

-As a helpful hint for this story, I think of Isabella as kind of a Lexi from when he was human. Just a really close female friend of Stefan's, who drinks human blood, but only with a thing for Damon. ;)

-Almost the entire world thinks Elena is dead. Elena is lonely. Elena needs a new friend. Below, Elena gets said new friend. |yays for elena|

-Please, please, please review!

**Stefan**

I couldn't believe it! Isabella was standing in front of me in my arms after centuries I thought that she had died off with Katherine or just moved on back in Florence. But no, just like Katherine she had to show up here alive and bloodthirsty and completely unexpected. But this time, it was a good surprise. A very good one. The Rosalini family had always been good friends of the Salvatores.

"Come in," I pulled away and took Isabella's hand. I lead her into the room toward Elena, letting Isabella now have entry into my room. I knew she was okay; it wouldn't be any trouble of me to do so. "I have someone you need to meet." I dragged Isabella in to my room to meet my fiancé and soul mate.

When Isabella laid eyes on Elena, I heard the very audible gasp. She and Katherine had been friends when Katherine moved to Florence, so I knew that she recognized all the similarities, and maybe even the slight differences. She did a one-over Elena, and Elena did a one-over of her. They took each other in carefully. I watched them both as they did so. Elena looked surprised, but not nearly as surprised as Isabella, who looked truly taken aback. I wondered when the last time Isabella had seen Katherine was: had Katherine been the one to turn her? Most likely.

"Isabella, this is Elena Gilbert, and she is my fiancé. Elena, this is Isabella Rosalini, a friend of mine from my childhood," I said, officially introducing them both.

"Hi," Isabella breathed, smiling at Elena. "You know, you're one lucky girl to have landed this one, Elena Gilbert." But then she turned to me, her expression curious and mischievous. Oh, fun, here came the question I was expected all along. "But why in _hell _does she look like that?" Elena giggled slightly, and I did too.

"Sit down," I motioned for Isabella to sit with Elena on the bed, while I sat down in my computer chair, turning it towards them. "I think it's explanation time for the both of us."

**Isabella**

I sat next to Elena cross-legged on the couch, both of us facing Stefan. She looked just like Katherine! What was up with that? _Stefan, you have some explainin' to do!_ I screamed at him into his mind.

I leaned over towards Elena's side and whispered into her ear, "Don't worry, Stefan's all yours. He was my first kiss when we were six, though." Elena laughed lightly, she shoulders shaking.

"Okay, so how should we do this? Stories and questions, or what?" Stefan asked me.

"Um, how about questions first, then stories, then more questions?" I suggested. I had just thought of a really good question, and I desperately wanted to know the answer now.

"Alright, sure. You got one for us? Well, duh, of course you do," Stefan mumbled, and I giggled at him.

"Yes, two main ones that will probably be answered in whatever story you guys have anyway. Why the hell does Elena look like Katherine? And: are you the only one who's alive?" I knew he knew what I meant by the last question. Was Damon alive, too? I truly hoped so.

"Okay, that means story time!" Elena laughed. "That's kinda the gist of the story: Damon and Katherine. Yeah, he's still alive," Elena reassured, and I smiled to myself.

And so Elena and Stefan began the long tale of their lives together, but first starting with Stefan and Damon being changed and what not. (See The Awakening – Dark Reunion; no The Return: Nightfall yet.) I was enthralled. So Katherine was dead now? Elena was a fallen angel who'd died twice? Elena killed Katherine? And Damon was mysteriously disappeared and was most likely still single? That story just made my day. When they finished, I applauded theatrically.

"Okay, now it's my turn," I began. And so became the tale of Katherine's shadow and adventure and posing as a human for nearly a year. Disappointment and mystery and trickery and semi-heartbreak. It was the tale of the Cullens and me in our short time together. He and Elena laughed at the sparkles, but then he growled in anger as I told him of Edward leaving me. I was sad, but I knew it was for the best, for he couldn't love the real me. The me that was still in love with…

"Damon?" Elena squealed happily. I nodded and blushed the deepest shade a vampire could, which wasn't very deep at all.

"I knew you always liked him when we were teenager. God, it broke your heart when your own best friend stole him, didn't it?" Stefan empathized. I nodded again, but now in anger, not embarrassment.

"The bitch should rot in _hell_ for the way she treated me for so long. I was always too afraid; I was strong than her! But she changed me into what I am, and I had no choice in it…" I growled, releasing a mass of Power out into the afternoon. "But for that I'm thankful. I can give her that – she saved me," I finished. My fists were clenched tightly in my lap as I stared down at them. I looked up at Stefan and Elena, who seemed a bit concerned for my mental health and anger management at the moment. I shrugged at them and smiled a bit, reassuring them that I was okay. It was just a little lapse of control bursting out and killing all the birds and squirrels in about a five-mile radius. Nothing too big.

"So, you still do feed off of people, then? Like Damon does?" Elena asked. She looked a bit nervous, but not severely.

I sighed. "Oh, come on. Of course I do, but I honestly don't cause pain for then when I do so, like some other vamps. And I usually don't kill them on purpose, unless I _really_ hate then. You're practically as safe with me as you are with Stefan. God, I love you like a sister already," I said, smiling at the reassured Elena. And I truly did feel that way. Stefan, a brother to me, was her love. And she seemed a lot like me in a way. She smiled back at me, and did something I didn't totally expect; she turned fully towards me and hugged me. I returned the embrace. It felt good – I'd already made a real friend, or sister.

Stefan was a bit seething now, even though he saw mine and Elena's exchange or sisterly friendship. "God, this Cullen guy, what happened, what a bastard… He had issues! He was practically stalking you a time, and you just kept up the façade? Why? If you let your guard down too much you could have died on many different occasions! And what the hell with you and James – what were you planning to do? Kill him? Show the Cullens then that you weren't human? You could've just done that, but what would they have done to you…?" Stefan mused to himself, frowning, as he thought of all the ways the past year of my life was the stupidest, most dangerous thing I'd ever done.

"Oh, stop wallowing, you emo child. I'm fine, I'm happy because you're here, and I'm super-happy because _you're getting married!_" I grabbed Elena's left hand, and what else did I find other than Katherine's old lapis lazuli ring. I smiled. "It's so beautiful on you, Elena. Totally perfect; totally Stefan. Did I_ seriously_ just meet you… only two hours ago? 'Cause it sure doesn't feel like it."

I talked wedding with Elena for some time while Stefan just sat there and watched, listened, and commented. She was babbling about how excited she was and how she wanted to pick out her dress soon and how she was finalizing places and was stuck between just here or possibly Italy. She was sad that since the world thought she was dead she couldn't invite her family. She even wanted me to come – she considered me Stefan's family, and in a way, I was.

"If you marry Damon, then you'd be my sister-in-law! Oh, Isabella, you have to hook up with him soon; I hope he comes back. You're already like Stefan's sister, which makes you a sister to me," she took a deep breath and asked me, "I know I haven't even known you a whole day yet, but… would you be willing to be one of my bridesmaids? I don't have many people that can come anyway and want everyone who does to be a part of the thing and–"

"Yes!" I answered enthusiastically, and we hugged. Elena was officially already my new sister in my mind. I loved her so much right then. I was going to be in a wedding, her and Stefan's wedding! And she thought I should be with Damon…

**Damon**

Katherine was a psycho; Katherine was dead; Elena was still marrying my brother. Great. The only two girls I'd ever truly loved were now out of the picture. What did the world expect of me: to actually be the uncaring demon I acted to be? I really did care – sometimes.

I just wandered now, too pissed off at the moment to even bother to go find a meal. Yeah, I was just outside Fell's Church now, around in the wood. I found refuge in one tree, the tallest of all of them, and reclined on a branch and just lay there, unmoving and emotionless.

Suddenly, an enormous burst of Power sent the forest shaking. I was quick enough to change into my crow form and fly up above the trees, waiting for the shock to run its course. The immense Power's intensity had sent a shockwave probably miles in radius from where it had centered. Various forest animals had probably just died off. I was mildly impressed, to say in the least. It had been a while since I had felt such Power near me that wasn't actually me myself.

I flew west, the general direction I had felt the Power coming from. Was it just cruel coincidence that that just happened to be the direction that the old boarding house was in? Probably not, but hopefully yes. I was tired of seeing my younger brother Saint Stefan and his happy little undead bride. But since fate, luck, and all things relative hated me so much, I just happened to end up at the boarding house. And oh man, the Power was radiating off of that place like steam.

I flew to the tree out of Stefan's window, curious as to what the hell was going on in there. I perked on the branch with the best view of any action, and watched the unfolding show.

My sad excuse of a brother sat at his computer chair, facing and smiling at two girls who sat on his bed: Elena and some mystery brunette chick whose face I couldn't see, as her back was to me. Was Saint Stefan having some sort of threesome I didn't know about? I doubted it, so skipped that theory and continued to observe like the outsider I was.

The unknown brunette laughed at something obviously said earlier, and threw her arms around Elena, hugging her tightly. I still couldn't see her face unfortunately. Elena hugged her back enthusiastically. Stefan smiled widely and said, "Perfect! Wow, I'm so glad this is going so well. You guys love each other." Hmm, so was Saint Stefan having confessing to having an affair with the other woman present? Most likely not.

"I haven't been to a wedding since I was human," brunette confessed, and I smiled at my newfound knowledge. So the possible other woman was a vampire, and was apparently attending some wedding soon. It was probably my brother's wedding to his magically back-from-the-undead girlfriend. So she was good friend, then; how touching. Stefan's just making new friends every day, isn't he? Good for him.

"I was there too, don't you remember?" Stefan asked. Wait, so this chick was an _old_ friend? Like, really, really old long-lost childhood in Italy friend? I didn't see that one coming. Did that mean that I knew her?

"You and Damon both danced with me. What were we then, twelve years old? And I was so in love with him even then," the brunette mused.

So she was in love with me?

I only attended one wedding when I was younger. And at that wedding Stefan had gotten me to dance with a girl named Isabella Rosalini. She had been short and brunette and beautiful and friends with Katherine and… totally right behind that window.

Damn, how many people did Katherine change back then? Eh, probably just us three.

**Isabella**

It was getting hot in here. Very hot, like overheating, burning, roasting in the sun hot. I was sweating, something I rarely did as a vampire. God, the September heat was really getting to me in this room. Huh, no air conditioning. I fanned my face and looked to Stefan.

"Can I maybe open the window or something? It's pretty stuffy and hot in here," I asked, pleading with wide brown eyes. His face looked a bit flushed from warmth too, and he nodded. I stood up and walked over to the window behind Elena and me. I opened it up and stuck my head out, feeling the slight cool breeze. I smiled wearily and closed my eyes, taking in a deep, calming breath. Today had been crazy so far, traveling, finding a new home, finding out the love of my life and his brother wasn't gone off this planet yet, and learning that my life-long accomplice and friend was dead, which actually made me happy. It had been a long, strange day in the life this teenage vampire.

I opened my eyes again to the wood. I heard no bird songs, as I guessed was due to my violent rage toward Katherine. But I did see one bird. It was a black crow, sitting on the branch closest to me and staring right at me, right into my eyes, right into my soul. It sure had very familiar deep, dark eyes…

Oh, damn it.

**A/N:::** Review time!!! Tell me what you think! Oh, please, you know you want to. I'll love you forever and ever!

-just do it- ;)


	4. Chapter 4

**IMPORTANT A/N::: I'm thinking of starting a new story for The Vampire Diaries! Tell me what you think of this summary I've written below:**

**Bonnie, Meredith, and Elena all have a girl's night. They play MASH – and candles are lit. Never let a witch play MASH with candles!!! They end up the next mornings in their lives they faultily designed for themselves and each other the previous night. Chaos ensues. **

**Isabella**

Ha-ha-ha: that didn't just happen. That wasn't the love of my life who I had believed to be dead for years right outside that window. Oh, yes it was, who was I kidding? I spun around quickly and closed my eyes. I tried to take a deep, calming breath, but it didn't work out too well. I could feel my face heating up to new levels. And I could feel the concerned stares on me of two curious friends of mine wondering about my mental stability.

"I… I'm fine. It's real hot here; I should just go and take a shower or something. I'll see you guys tomorrow." I rushed out my words as I walked towards the door. But I was cut off when the door opened up right into my face. I grabbed my nose in surprised pain that passed quite quickly.

"Oh, I'm sorry… what the hell? Who…?" The girl who now stood in front of me was just a few inched taller than Alice Cullen had been, and that was damn short. She had freckles and long red curls framing her face. Her eyes were wide and surprised, along with her mouth. Behind her was a tall, built boy who slightly resembled Mike Newton, but not really, because this boy was much more attractive and masculine. He wore the same shocked expression in his features as the small girl. I took then to be… Bonnie and Matt? Yes, of course they were!

"I, uh–" I started, but was cut off by Stefan.

"Will stay a little longer, B," he corrected me, not wanting me to go, and obviously wanting Bonnie and Matt to meet me. He used his playful little pet name for me, so I smiled and agreed. I stepped back and turned to Stefan, walking over to him.

"Fine, mister," I pouted jokingly, poking him on the nose. I snuck a quick look out the window. From what I could see, he was gone. I felt my body calm itself quickly, but I kept on alert. My senses still felt like they were sent on overload.

"Stefan, who is she?" Matt asked, and I turned back to the new arrivals. Matt put his hand protectively on Bonnie's shoulder. He looked kind of mad now; he still hadn't gotten any answers as to who I happened to be, and of course this was some sort of secret society of undead teenagers here. So he was obviously quite uneasy with a deadly stranger in the room. Duh.

"Matt, Bonnie, this is a dear friend of mine from my childhood, Isabella Rosalini. She has just come to town, and is living here in the boarding house. Yes, she's my age and kind; no, she's on Damon's diet, not mine; yes, she is totally safe to be around; yes, she knows everything," Stefan informed, answering all the quiet and unsaid questions that had been creating a thick tension in the room. I saw Matt remove his hand from Bonnie and relax his tense muscles. Bonnie and him sighed and looked at me with new kinder, trusting eyes. Stefan and Elena trusted me, so they did too now.

"Hi," I said, feeling isolated with all of the eyes in the room on me now. I flipped my long brunette hair casually and smiled right at the both of them. It returned their trust.

"I take it you must know a lot about us already, then," Bonnie stated, not bothering to make the known answer a question. I nodded to her. "So, gosh, you know everything! You're a part of our little secret family we have here now. Wow, after so much has happened to us," she trailed off a bit, staring at me in a bit of awe. "But I met you less than a minute ago."

Elena giggled. "Isabella, you have some explaining to do!"

"Again?" I moaned in fake exhaustion. Elena laughed at me and hugged me. She was taller than me by a couple of inches. I felt so miniature, and definitely not for the first time on my long, long life.

The girls took to the bed and the guys took to the floor, where for the second time in one day I proceeded to tell the story of my life, spanning centuries, yet being summarized up into a much shorter period than that. I talked about Italy, Katherine, Damon, my suicide attempt, being tricked to think the Salvatores were gone forever, leaving with Katherine and Klaus, living and traveling with Katherine for centuries, becoming Bella, meeting and tricking and loving the Cullens, them leaving me, moving on, and coming here to find out my life had been a lie. Yeah, I guess it did kind of take a while to tell, but it was a damn good life story so far.

"Oh my god! You are crazy! I love you!" Bonnie squealed when I finished. She had been high on commentary during the entire thing. By the end of it all, she was leaning on me and we were joking together and if felt great. I had another sister.

"And you're both going to be my bridesmaids," Elena reminded us with a smirk, and we group hugged. But then I remembered someone.

"Matt!" I said, breaking up the girl group hug. He and Stefan were watching us, and I was happy to see that they both wore smiles on their faces.

"God, you're just one of the girls now. I love it; we've needed someone else around lately," Matt commented enthusiastically. "But… Stefan? What ever happened to the idea? You know?" I looked to Stefan, eyebrows raised in confusion. _The idea? _I thought towards him. What did he hold out on me?

He smiled at me, but it didn't reach his eyes. He didn't seem happy now. "Um, well, we're all out of high school now, and were kind of all thinking of moving away and all starting something anew together. No clue really. Uh, 'cause… you get it, B? You see, I'm undead and a teenager forever, and Elena has agreed to be, too. But Bonnie and Matt don't really want to go their separate ways from us yet. Meredith and Alaric are getting married; she's going to attend college at Duke next year to be with him. They're kind of leaving us behind, I guess, for the real world. We're all at a crossroad."

I nodded. I did get it. You have to keep moving on, but sometimes you have attachments.

"So why don't we all just go back to school?" I suggested. Everyone looked at me funny.

"What?" Stefan asked.

I cleared my throat. "Move somewhere else and start school all over again. It's easy! Oh, you know, Stefan. You can fail if you want to, don't have to do homework, don't have to deal with crap, and can totally mess with other people's heads! It's fun," I stated, shrugging innocently after my animated description of my kind of a good time. I received some nods of approval, and in no time some voiced agreements. And one yawn.

"Uh, it's late you guys. I better get home and catch some sleep. Well, later," Bonnie said, standing up and walking over to Matt, waving at us. "Love y'all! Come on, Matt, you drove us here. And Elena, you promised me a sleepover tonight!" She helped them up, giggling a bit at his struggle.

"That makes four," I smiled, waving at my fabulous neighbors. "I'll see you guys all tomorrow. Bye, Stefan!"

And we all left, saying our goodnights to each other as we went our separate ways from Stefan and Elena's place.

I got back into my room and lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling and listening. That had been in the craziest days of my life top five, I was sure of it. Become Bella, the Cullen baseball game going wrong, finding out the Salvatores had killed each other, Bella's 18th birthday party, and now this. No order, really, but definitely very wild days of my life. Oh, and that time I slept with a madly drunken and very married Tiger Woods. And day one of Woodstock, definitely Woodstock. And the whole mishap with redcoats where I tricked them into firing that first solo shot, and then Katherine and I escaping from the witch trials and burning down a village and nearly getting staking by several people…

As you can see, I'm not very good at narrowing things down. But I got the big ones in there.

I heard a very sudden, loud crash outside. I immediately came to alertness, getting up and out my window in under a second. I was on the ground and sprinting, and in under a minute I was at the scene of a car crash on the road through the wood. I saw no fire, but I smelled smoke. I also smelled blood, but it didn't matter. I knew who was in that car.

"Bonnie! Matt! _Elena!_" I yelled, now beside the car and trying to yank open the door. The car was overturned and dented in many places, with all the windows shattered. It had swerved and flipped and gone straight into a tree. I finally managed to pry the door off its hinges, and I threw it far behind me.

"Oh, god; dear, _dear, god_," I murmured as I bent down and pulled my bloody, limp friends from the wreckage. "No, no, _no!" _My immediate instinct was to cut my wrist on the broken glass windows and feed my two new, dear friends the blood in hopes to change them. But is that what they wanted? Of course it was, if they didn't want to leave Stefan and Elena behind. And I was a selfish creature anyway.

"Please, drink, drink," I urged, speaking to myself as the unconscious Bonnie and Matt lay on the ground, my severely cut wrists at their mouths. "_Come on! Stefan!_"

I felt the tears beginning running down my face. It wasn't working. They were fading so fast, and I couldn't save all three of them at once. Their pulses were so distant. Too distant, too quiet, too far away to save.

I felt two presences there with me now. One was with Elena. The other was standing at a somewhat careful distance behind me. I heard frantic speaking and crooning and sobbing from the one with Elena. I heard nothing at all from the one behind me.

"They're going to make it," the voice said from behind me, from the other. It wasn't the words said that made me feel any better, though. It was who had said them to me. I felt his hand resting on my shoulder, and I instantly felt better. He was here.

"I… I don't know," I whispered, my voice shaking and a bit raspy from overuse and grief. I turned my neck to face him. I had not forgotten one detail or feature about him in all these years apart. And he looked back at me with a serious, confident expression.

"I do know," he reassured me, just as Elena's pulse stopped. Then Matt's. And then Bonnie's. And just like that, my friends were dead. I felt my heart freeze in my crest. His grip on my shoulder squeezed encouragingly for a brief moment. My tears stopped and began to dry on my face.

The other now spoke coherently, and at us. "We need to get them back home before they wake up. They'll need blood and rings. This better not end up like last time," he said. I looked over to him, and he nodded to me with a faint, believing smile. He held Elena protectively in his arms bridal style. I proceeded to pick up both Bonnie and Matt. My doubt was gone. They were coming back.

I turned back around to face him, but he was gone. Like the wind, as if he had never been there at all. I looked up into the sky ahead of me, just to see a large black crow flying away over the horizon and disappearing from sight.

**A/N::: Dramatic turning point! So… they're all vampires now! And where should they all move? Small town and not super sunny is my current, very flexible criteria. **_**Tell me what you want in a review!**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Isabella**

The blood was easy to resist. It was dried all over my arms and sweatshirt. I had dirt smeared all over my jeans and my shoes, and even my face. Now I _really_ needed that shower I had talked about earlier, but that would still have to wait a bit longer.

Stefan and I had just made it back to the boarding house. Our three dead friends were still very dead, but I just knew they would be like us soon. They had to be. It was only a matter of a few more minutes, hopefully. It was inevitable with all the blood we had given the three of them. I felt pretty drained out.

We carried them all up to Stefan's room and into his bathroom. Mrs. Flowers was fast asleep. We took to cleaning their bodies of with washcloths, wiping away all dirt and blood and car grease and whatever was on their skin that shouldn't be there. Their cuts were starting to heal nice and quickly – a very good sign. Stefan and I were getting all of this done hastily. It really had only been a few minutes max, and now all that was dirty about them was their hair and clothes. I was changing the girls into some of Elena's clothes, and Stefan was changing Matt into some of his own clothes.

"Just please wake up soon, Bonnie and Elena," I whispered to them.

My crazy day had just gotten a whole lot crazier than I had even thought a single day could be, and it _still_ wasn't over yet.

**Stefan**

I was with Matt when he finally woke up. He opened his eyes and was immediately on his feet, but in a predatorily slight crouch. He was staring at me with huge eyes. They were confused and angry. He obviously had no clue whatsoever to who I was. But then his stance relaxed, and he just looked at me. Looked at me really hard.

"Whoa, Stefan? God, I feel… I'm dead, aren't I? I… died. I swerved and… oh shit; I killed the girls, didn't I? Oh, god, man," he babbled on, nervously asking and answering his own questions. His loud was high and anxious and completely freaked out. "Are they…?"

"Yes, they're in the other room with Isabella. She saved you," I told him, trying to calm him down. He seemed really on edge about what had happened. I saw him sigh in relief, though. But I couldn't blame him. It happened; Elena would be with me forever, and so would our best friends.

"Uh, my head… I feel so hungry, man," he breathed. His transformation was starting to catch up with him.

"Just wait, Matt. When the girls come to, then we'll head out and hunt. Just wait a bit longer."

I brought him into the other room, where Isabella was straightening out Bonnie's shirt. She had such a nervous, caring expression on. She had become so close to the girls in the extremely short time they had known each other. She was so worried. She looked up at me with an anxious expression, then saw Matt and smiled widely. He smiled back at her.

"Thanks for saving my life," he said, and then grabbed at his head a bit. He sat down on the bed and groaned slightly. She just giggled a bit.

"That'll get better soon, when we get Bonnie and Elena up," she assured him. Seeing Matt seemed to boost her hopes and spirits up quite a bit.

I sat on the ground next to Isabella for a while, stroking and untangling Elena's hair. After about five minutes, I heard her take in a sharp intake of breath. She opened her eyes and looked right back up at me.

"That's the third time I've died, right, Stefan?" she asked me, sitting up. "Uh, and it hasn't gotten any better. I feel like shit." I laughed. It wasn't her first time becoming a vampire, and she remembered it. She hadn't forgotten a thing.

We talked a bit more, but she was tired and in need of blood, so she just agitatedly took to silence and lay back down. We only had to wait three more minutes for Bonnie.

"Hi," she simply said. "Oww."

"A girl of few words," Isabella remarked jokingly. "Okay, y'all, let's go get us some humans!"

**Isabella**

It was a fun first hunting experience. Stefan was quite unenthusiastic to begin with, but our friends needed human blood to complete the transformation, so he dealt with it. I took the girls and he took Matt. We stayed on the same street block incase we needed one another for any reason.

I was quick to find a teenage boy good enough for my standards. He had a football jersey laid out on his computer chair and trophies, sports balls, and dirty clothes all over the floor. A jock. Perfect.

"Tyler Lockwood? _Really?"_ Elena complained.

"Ooh, the werewolf boy! _Tyler, come open the window and let us in_," I compelled him to wake up and come towards us. He yawned and looked at us funny.

"Uh, come in?" he complied, confused, but still opening the window at my will. He yawned and stretched his muscled arms and chest. He was shirtless, with only thin flannel pants on.

"Okay, girls, drink up. No fighting. I'm right here and way stronger than the both of you. _Tyler, don't scream_," I readily cautioned him. I wasn't sure exactly how willing he was; I hoped he wouldn't be in too much pain. I sure hoped they didn't end up killing him; I'd interfere if he passed out.

I did have to carefully pry them off of Tyler in the end. He was apparently very willing to let them do whatever they wanted to him, as I could tell through his pants. I did nearly pass out, and lost a lot of blood. His neck wasn't too torn up, but it wasn't just four tiny little punctures, either. The girls were still hungry in the end, so I mind wiped Tyler and we left.

We ran into Matt and Stefan outside. He was apparently very full from Miss Caroline Forbes. Oh, the things I had heard about her: the neighborhood blood bank of a damsel in distress. We continued on though and found another cute young boy. He did pass out, but I still mind wiped him. The deeds had been done. We were all vampires.

"Bonnie and Matt should probably stay with me. They'll be pronounced missing and dead, like Elena was," I suggested. It was a sad thought, but would have to do. We had three dead fugitives in the group now.

So I finally went home, this time with two new roommates, and _finally_ got some sleep. Once again, what a day.

***

In the next five days we said our goodbyes to Mrs. Flowers and we took off. I suggested we weren't to pick an exact location yet, just head north and stay where we ended up staying. They all thought it was a great, carefree plan. It was just what we needed.

It hadn't at all been a long stay for me in Fell's Church, Virginia, but I knew this definitely wasn't the last I would see of this small town. It was the town that had changed my life, and I knew we would all come back here - back home - eventually.

We all drove off together, five people cramped into Stefan's little convertible Porsche. Thank god we girls were all fairly petite, so we could all fit in the backseat together while Stefan drove and Matt took shotgun. And thank god that Stefan and I were both loaded, too.

We talked and gossiped and chatted and did every kind of communicating imaginable. At one point we even typed things in on Bonnie's phone and passed them back and forth between us, in order to stay silent and keep secrets from the boys. That annoyed them a lot, which just made us happier.

I tended to seem just like a sister to everyone in that car, and that was what I knew I was. We were all just one big family now, and would be until the end of our endless time together. Okay, that didn't really make too much sense at all. We would be a family forever.

For a while we contemplated what to do when we got wherever we were going. We pretty much all agreed on going back to high school and causing as much havoc and having as much fun as possible.

"We don't have do homework, can fail and ace whatever we want, and totally mess with the teachers and anyone we want!" I pointed out animatedly. "Good, clean fun!" I got a whole lot of laughs from that.

We girls also played MASH for a little bit. Bonnie and Elena got stuck in some messed up lives. I ended up marrying exactly who I wanted to, which got me much criticism and attention.

"We totally need to hook you two up somehow!"

"Oh, I just know he'll end up wherever we do. He can't leave us alone."

"You guys would be so perfect! You're both so like each other, and yet so opposites."

"You two are totally the perfect couple!"

"It's fate!"

Elena and Bonnie mused enthusiastically about all of the possibilities of Damon and me. I blushed a lot during this exchange of theirs. I got several looks in the rearview mirror from Stefan. Most of them were suggestive winks and eyebrow wiggles. _Ha-ha, you're so funny, Stefan_.

We all stopped at an IHOP for a brunch-like meal. None of us had eaten breakfast, but it was before noon, so I guess it was brunch. We all the super stacks of pancakes and ate them so fast. They were so delicious! As vampires we didn't have to worry about calories or any of that crap. As long as we drank blood, we were really just normal, very fit humans with supernatural powers.

I could have sworn I saw a crow flying by outside the IHOP for a half of a second. No one else noticed it, so I didn't say a thing. I was probably just going over the top. It couldn't have been him, could it?

**Alice (flashback)**

I couldn't see anything; there was nothing about her. It was as if she had been wiped off the face of the earth. I knew Edward would be pissed if he knew I was looking for her, but he was away now. He was down south in Rio, I think. Still sulking, as we all were. The Cullens had gone sullen.

I sat here in my room with Jasper, here in wherever… oh yeah, New England. I was just the day after Edward had left her. I was still searching for her. But there was nothing. If I couldn't find Bella, could I find Charlie?

It was as if something was blocking me out. Something strong, stronger than me, stronger than anything I had ever felt before. It was like it put up a shield on anything related to Bella, anything at all that could help me find her!

"Jasper… she's not there. Nothing about her. No Charlie, no Forks, no fucking Washington state! It's all being blocked or something; I can't see a thing about her!"

This was just too much to take. I needed a shopping spree to clear my head.

**Isabella**

We kept on driving north for the day. We took a random tourist stop in DC, just to stretch and have some fun. We ran around, visited monuments, and shopped. We actually spent so much time fooling around in the country's capital that we just ended up checking into the Washington Plaza Hotel _(a real-life extremely nice hotel in DC!) _for the night. We got two suites, one for girls and one for guys. We fooled around and had a blast, only sleeping for four hours that night! The only reason we slept at all was the drive in the morning. Bonnie, Matt, Elena, and Stefan were really starting to get how much fun it could be to be a vampire. We were all really enjoying this whole adventure thing. Life was turning into an endless vacation – we had enough money and resources to do so, anyway.

We left that morning a bit groggy and drowsy, but still very excited for the coming day. We hopped into the Porsche, with the same assigned seats. We attracted much attention as we sped out of the parking lot and down the road, us girls with our hands up in the back, squealing in adrenaline and joy. The top was down, so we were in full view of the public. I had always loved the fresh air blowing in my hair.

As we drove off, I said, "Maybe we should have compelled the Secret Service to let us meet Obama."

Bonnie laughed. "Ooh, great idea!"

"No, we are so leaving. Pennsylvania!" Matt reminded us. "We can't stay here forever." So we drove out of the capital and to our next stop, wherever that happened to be.

When we reached Philadelphia, Elena yelled, "Stop! Philly!" Stefan complied, finding the nearest empty spot on the street curb and filling up the parking meter with enough coins for the rest of the day. I looked down the street, around at the other cars and meters. A black crow met my gaze from a ways away. But I blinked, and of course, it was gone.

***

Our east coast road trip had sure run its course, and was finally over. It had lasted a couple more days. We spent one of the days in NYC, and of course there was a lot of driving involved in our travels, which filled up the rest of the trip's duration. And a lot of driving meant a lot of talking. We had spent much time on our story – who we were as a family, basically. Stefan and Elena, the older-looking two, were 18 and dating. I was Stefan's little sister. Matt was Elena's brother and Bonnie was a cousin. We had survived a fire at a joint family reunion, and since two of us were adults, we didn't have to go to a foster home or orphanage. We were the Salvatores and Gilberts. It was an okay base story for now, but Bonnie had mentioned Damon one time, and we didn't quite know how to fit him in there yet.

"He can't be Isabella's husband and sister at the same time!" Bonnie had pointed out.

We were in Boston now. At an airport, actually - Logan International Airport. That was where the trip had taken us – to an airport. Funny, huh?

I stood inside with my family, scanning over the lists of departing flights. We were looking for somewhere, anywhere for us to go for a while. Then I saw one word that instantly I knew would be our final destination.

"_Rome_," I breathed, smiling widely. We were going back to Italy.

**A/N::: Hiya!!! Do you guys want Bonnie and Matt to be together? Because this is a Bella and Damon story, so yeah. **

**I can't wait for the trip back to Italy; can you guys? **_**Please tell me what you think of this chapter in a review! **_**Oh, and don't expect too much of the Cullen family for a little while longer. I need more time to pass before I bring them back into the main plot. **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N::: Shout-outs to EVERYONE!!!! There are way too many people out there to thank; I love all you readers and reviewers sooo much! You all make my day! So in order to thank you and show my extreme appreciation, here's what you've all been waiting for and asking about… it's DAMON!!!! :D**

**Isabella **

"You're good to go," the airport worker said to me, handing me my scanned boarding pass with a forced smile. "Enjoy the flight."

I nodded in thanks to her, smiling a real smile and walking onto whatever you call the mobile passageway thing to the plane. We were flying a red-eye flight in First Class to Rome, Italy to start our life. This way, we didn't really have to do much until we had our lives set up. We could just relax and enjoy ourselves in mine and Stefan's home country. Only Stefan and I even spoke Italian, so of course we wouldn't be doing much interacting. So I guess this trip was just us two indulging ourselves in our past while our whole family adjusted for however long.

For the flight I had changed into some new, comfy-looking sweats I'd bought. We had bought some many new clothes that I myself just had three suitcases, and they were all new Louis Vuitton ones. I think Bonnie might have gotten more stuff than me, but I wasn't sure on it. We had all gotten matching Ray Ban sunglasses, too; we almost looked like a gang or something.

I found my seat: a spacey window seat with all those luxurious amenities, like exotic pillows and HD TVs, that make flying tolerable – I generally hate planes, as most vampires do. But I really do spoil myself; this was a high-class plane, and I had and even higher class seat. Yet the dollar amount didn't matter with money like mine. (I would start thinking of it as my family's money soon. But I knew that the Salvatore brothers were loaded, too.)

I sat a couple of seats away from my family, but I didn't mind all that much. Apparently, the seat next to me was reserved or something like that - probably some famous or rich person or something. I wondered who they were and if I already knew them. (I knew a lot of people.)

I pulled out my new iPod I had gotten in DC – for free, from a willing teenage boy, and already with all my favorite songs on it. I plugged myself into my little Apple earbuds, and relaxed back into the reclined seat with my eyes closed. I clicked play and let it shuffle through all of its songs. I liked the song that came on first. It had been my guilty pleasure song ever since it had been released while I was still Bella Swan. It reminded me of Damon, except back then, I thought he was dead.

"_It's a quarter after one_

_I'm all alone and I need you now_

_Said I wouldn't call but_

_I lost all control and I need you now."_

I could hear the faint thoughts and footsteps of all the people boarding onto the flight. Some of the thoughts were in Italian. I heard the faint buzzing noises that were the greetings of the pilot, flight crew, and attendants. I didn't know or care who or what something was. It was there, that was all that mattered. I couldn't wait until they all fell asleep, and eventually even I did.

_Isabella! B! Psst! Hey, you hear me?_ Elena thought to me from six seats to my left – my seat was at a window to the right. She sat between Stefan and Bonnie, while Matt sat behind Stefan. There was an aisle between our seats. So far, we were the only people sitting in First Class. _I miss you over here!_

_Me too. I wonder who'll sit by me. I've met a bunch of celebrities and people over the years, _I thought back to her. _Who do you think?_

_Um, do you know any big athletes? Maybe training in Europe? Winter's in a few months, so maybe… Shaun White? _She guessed at me. I laughed slightly. I actually had met him before, a bit over three years ago. Elena heard me think that, and she giggled also.

"_It's a quarter after one_

_I'm a little drunk and I need you now."_

I sat in my seat, eyes still very much closed, when I heard someone approaching me in my reclusive little corner of the plane's First Class area. They were fairly quiet, but unmistakably coming towards me. I didn't open my eyes quite yet; I loved this song too much, and I had been brought up to be a very casual vampire.

They stopped right beside me, and after that moment's pause they sat down next to me. I noticed that they had a very masculine, attractive natural scent. But my affinity toward country music that reminded me of Damon kept my eyes closed.

"_And I wonder if I ever cross your mind_

_For me it happens all the time."_

Damon crossed my mind all the time. I've gotten drunk and wanted him like hell before. Late at night, I've just wished I could call him or something. I wanted him. I needed him. He was always thought of as out of reach. But he wasn't anymore. I just want him to be mine.

"_And I don't know how I can do without_

_I just need you now."_

The song was coming to a close. Damon would be mine eventually. So I guessed I would just go back to the real world and see whoever was next to me. I paused my iPod and put my headphones in my lap. I opened my eyes and turned to my new neighbor with a slight, friendly smile.

Oh, I knew him, all right.

"So that song reminds you of me?" he asked with a sweetly sarcastic smile, which made it as sour as it was sweet. I blushed slightly, but shot the same smile right back at him.

"And what are you doing here, happening to sit next to me on a flight back home?" I countered. I had to look up slightly to talk to him. He still taller than me while we were both sitting.

"Why, I'm following you, of course. Why else would I be here? Coincidence? Nothing is ever coincidence; the world is premeditated," Damon answered casually and bold. But then his expression of fake-caring sarcasm changed a bit. It became more real, more like he was happy to see me. It went from smirk to soft just like that. "How have you been?"

I laughed softly. "Oh, you know, running around doing whatever. I spent centuries with Katherine, having fun and wreaking havoc and looking innocent from afar. I left her for a bit, played a dead human for fun, fell in fake love, was fake heartbroken, and then I came to Fell's Church, all bored and lonely. And I found that you two brothers were still alive! Katherine had me under the impression that you killed each other, but didn't have enough of her blood in you to come back." It was a fairly long answer to 'how have you been', but when you haven't seen someone in centuries, it would be sad if your answer was just 'oh, nothing much'. And, of course, I had a lot to say.

"Really? What was all that about playing a dead human and fake stuff? I need more than a five second summary; this flight will take a little longer than that," Damon pressed. Ooh, yay; I so desperately wanted to tell the Cullen story again. But it was still DAMon. I couldn't say no; he deserved to know what I'd done and what had happened. At least he didn't want to know about my time with Katherine, or didn't seem to care – a good sign.

So I told him the story of Bella and Forks and the Cullens. My secrets, loves, lies, delusions, dangers, mistakes, and near death sentences - like how I almost attacked both James and Jasper when they attacked me. And how Edward found it peculiar at how he couldn't read my mind, and I laughed at him. And him honestly not scaring me at all, and how much this confused and bothered him.

Some parts of my story entertained Damon. He could sympathize with my feelings of anger and annoyance and hilarity. But I could tell that Edward, James, Victoria, and the Cullens really bugged him.

"Is that Victoria still after you? And do you think_ he_ will ever come looking…?" He didn't want to say Edward's name. It obviously got to him how I had loved him and he had hurt me, because I knew it wasn't and would never be real, and that he would never actually know the truth about Bella Swan or me.

"Victoria? If she ever finds me, she would be dead the moment I sensed her around. And Edward? I don't think so. He didn't love Bella anymore. That's why he left," I responded. He noticed how I had said Bella and not myself. In that year, I really wasn't myself, except for my diary, which was very full of delusional and not thinking straight enough to be the real me.

We were whispering now, because we looked around and every other passenger was very much asleep. We weren't rude enough to wake them; there was no need. In fact, I didn't even know if my family knew Damon was on the flight. They most likely did. Their thoughts had all been hidden from me, and Damon being here with me was probably the reason why.

"So… we're all going back home, aren't we? I take it you five will all being staying at the Salvatore villa?" Damon queried. Yes, that had been our thought, as two of us in the group were or were soon to be Salvatores.

"I guess," I replied, nonchalant. I didn't want to think about getting off this plane; I wanted to sit here forever staring into his dark, dark blue eyes…

"So your little happy family won't mind me hanging around?" he smiled, and I caught my breath at how sexy that smile was. Then I laughed.

"I can think of one of us who wouldn't mind all that much with you being around," I stated, trailing of a bit at the end. "Music?" I offered, holding out an earbud to him. He accepted with a smile, taking it while I grabbed my iPod and just turned it, keeping it on shuffle so it would pick a random song. I didn't know for sure what Damon listened to, but I had some pretty good ideas just from knowing him.

I hadn't even heard the random song that was about to start before Damon grabbed my iPod – lightly brushing my hand with his - and swiftly changed it to a new song. I watched his fingers move, but I couldn't see what they were doing. I just held my iPod in his hand, tilted away from my view and just out of reach. I heard the new song start up, and could feel the blush moving up into my cheeks.

"_Beautiful girls all over the world_

_I could be chasin' but_

_My time would be wasted_

_They got nothin' on you, baby_

_Nothin' on you, baby."_

**Edward**

I couldn't even look at a piano anymore. Almost all music was just too painful. I could barely stand a single tune; they all reminded me of her and of her sweet melody…

I lay back on the hotel room bed and out the window. I was in Rio de Janeiro. That was too far away from her, but that was a good thing. For her, though, not me. Never me.

I flipped my old iPod out of my pocket - the one I had left at home and that Alice had sent me in the mail, seeing where I would be and that it would arrive before I left. I plugged in the earphones and searched through all the music I had on there, which was pretty much the entire online iTunes store. But as I scanned through the artists, I couldn't find a single harmless one.

Lady GaGa? I hadn't heard a song by her since "Bad Romance" was playing on the car radio months ago. She couldn't possibly hurt, could she?

So I pressed play on her shuffled playlist.

"_In your brown eyes, I walked away_

_In your brown eyes, I couldn't stay_

_In your brown eyes, you'll watch her go_

_Then turn the record on_

_And wonder what went wrong_

_What went wrong?_

_If everything was everything_

_But everything is over_

_Everything could be everything-"_

I ripped the headphones out of my ears and threw the iPod at the wall. This wasn't helping!

Oh, my Bella… I could feel the tearless sobs coming on.

**Isabella**

It was just me and Damon in our own little world now. We just stared into each other's eyes, neither one of us willing to move. It was as if we weren't even blinking. I could hear our breathing though, and it was very calm, even, deep, and completely in sync with one another's. The songs kept playing, moving on, but we did not. We were frozen in time together, alone and high up in the sky over the Atlantic Ocean.

"_They got all the right friends in all the right places_

_So yeah, we're going down_

_They got all the right moves in all the right places_

_So yeah, we're going down."_

Damon was the first to say something, and it was whispered. "My little brother over there isn't a big fan about me being here."

I scoffed. "So what? He can't tell me what to do; I'm a big girl now. And always going to be a few months older."

"And I'm a few years older," Damon replied. "So I win." He quieted and looked at me deeply again.

"What do you think of me?" I blurted out - but not exactly randomly or babbled or unexpected, but very casual, deep, flirty, and totally unexpected. That kind of blurting out.

"Umm, well, I think you're bold, fine, bad, good, sweet, sour, bored, entertained, light, dark, blissful, and miserable. An extreme of everything – completely unpredictable," he answered, smiling a sly, knowing smile at me. "I like it. And you on me?"

I paused, smiling that sly smile right back at him. "Well, you're definitely bold and bad. I mean, you dropping out of university and telling your father the way you did? Oh, Katherine and Stefan told me all about that," I started simply. "You're charming, dark, mysterious, and… lonely. That's why you're here." I made this realization slowly, looking down at my lap.

"Katherine was a psycho. She's down now, and because I wished it. I had the choice to be with her, as I'm sure you've been told, but I decided against it. And Elena's with Saint Stefan over there," he mused, nodding his head back towards them. His face was a bit sad, but then it brightened a bit. "But you're over here with me, and you're just what I need."

I fell asleep on Damon's shoulder. He woke me up when the plane landed in Rome. We were finally in Italy; I was so excited!

When Damon came face to face with Stefan, Stefan tensed a bit, and Damon became harsher. It was a side of them I saw frequently before we were all changed and separated. What Katherine had done to all of us was terrible. I would make it my mission to fix it. Stefan and Damon's brotherhood, our time together lost, and Damon's faith in love.

_Oh, I love my home country,_ I thought as I hopped into the limo with my jetlagged family. Some other words echoed in my mind though, too – Damon's parting words from me in the terminal as he left: _I'll see you there_.

I saw the crow flying across the Italian sky as the limo door was being closed, and I smiled.

***

**A/N::: The lyrics I used were from the songs (in order) "Need You Now" by Lady Antebullum, "Nothin' On You (feat. Bruno Mars)" by B.o.B., "Brown Eyes" by Lady GaGa, and "All the Right Moves" by OneRepublic. These are three of my favorite songs. :D**

**I hope all of you enjoyed all the Damon-ness!!! Just wait for the next chapter; soon there is goin going to be another big time jump and more of Isabella's diary entries to pass the time. Or at least this is what I'm planning. I haven't written it yet. Oh, fun.**

**This is the main story I am focusing on as of right now. 'Only By The Night' and my other stories might not be updated for a little while. I'm sorry if this makes you sad; at least now I'm working twice as hard on this story. :D smiles, love you all!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N::: ¡Hola, readers! I speak no Spanish, but that was still fun. I don't speak Italian, either… just English and French. **** epic sadface**

**Anyway, get ready for some flashbacks!!! I put in a little thing in Vancouver as an Olympic tribute to the city and the athletes. Go Team USA!!! :D**

**Super special thanks to all my regular and new readers and reviewers! To crazyperson17, 'ILoveOQ', anneryn7, - DAMON – AND – ELENA -, .., Blood And Fangs27, Green-blobs-and-blue-apples, beverlie4055, rosejoanna, Supernatural Sam and Dean, Dark-Supernatural-Angel, and so many more!!!! I love all of you guys!!!! :D**

*******

**Isabella**

We all sat drowsily in the limo. Jetlag was really getting to all of us. Stefan and Elena were cracking out some sodas to wake them up, and Bonnie and Matt were catching on to that idea. I noticed that they were smiling at each other and holding hands. But I could barely even keep my eyes open. Absentmindedly twirling my lapis lazuli ring around my finger, I leaned back and began to drift away…

_~Seventeen Years Ago~_

_I sat out on the balcony, staring at the clouds and snow surrounding me from the high-rise hotel room. I leaned slightly over the railing, taking in downtown Vancouver in the early morning. My ratty old bomber jacket was my warmth; underneath it was just a skimpy, lacy bra. Last night had been wild, but this morning felt very different._

"_Pondering life's meaning?" Katherine asked lightheartedly as she danced out onto the balcony behind me. I turned to face her; she was in Pink brand sweats, bundled up and sweet as a kitten. A murderous, merciless little kitten. Her blonde hair flew out behind her in the slight winter breeze, and she had a small amount of dried blood on the corner of her lip. She wiped it away._

"_Merry Christmas," I said in a near whisper. But I did not smile this Christmas morning._

"_Aww, come on, you had to pick today of all days to think about him again? God, you'll just spend the rest of your eternity moping about never find another love!" Katherine mused, smiling with a hint of sarcasm and a pinch of sourness._

"_It's true. I'll never love another man," I said in the same monotone as before. "Never for real. It'll always just be Damon; it's like my heart doesn't know he's gone."_

_Katherine put on her best pout face. "You're crazy. So all of his various women, and him dropping out of university, and the villain he was – it doesn't bug you?"_

"_It didn't bug you either," I argued, making my point. Still, with no emotion in my voice, I watched her frown._

"_But… oh, come on! It's Christmas. Come have some fun; do it for Jesus! It's his birthday, you know," she joked, trying to make me sound stupid. I smiled at her humor, tucking a stray piece of my long brunette hair behind my ear._

"_Yeah, I guess it is my homeboy's birthday. Um, let's see… I got you a special something," I suggested. She had gotten me in a holiday mood. "It's called those twin hotties next door, celebrating the day with their local buddies. They're from Australia," I said, smiling. "I may never fall in love again, but who doesn't love a hot fling or one-night stand?"_

"_Merry Christmas, indeed," Katherine agreed, licking her smiling lips, her eyes sparkling._

"Oh, _Isabella!_ Get your cute ass out here! It's amazing!" I could hear Elena shriek, waking me from my flashback-type dream. "Wake up, missy!" I sat up groggily and rubbed my eyes. It was fairly dark out. We were in Florence, now, and apparently at the Salvatore residence.

"Coming," I responded, getting out of the open limo door. The chauffeur closed it behind me as I took in the large, majestic building I hadn't seen in centuries. _La Casa di Salvatore._ A home of nobility. I laughed, ring around my finger. It was so beautiful. "_Ciao!_"

"Oh, B, Stefan, you two guys actually grew up here?" they all asked us, bewildered.

"Well, Stefan grew up here; I grew up at the Rosalini mansion, but people live there now, right?" Stefan nodded to me in assurance. "Right. But I did spend much of my time here. Very much of my time, totally."

"Yeah – stalking Damon," Stefan joked, and I hit him lightly on the shoulder. But I looked up to the sky. Where was he now? He said he would be here for me…

My dream from years ago had been fairly random. I did mention how I could never really fall in love again. So I guess that referred to Edward. Maybe my subconscious just needed reassurance that I didn't love him. Well, I only loved Damon, forever and always. There you go, subconscious.

"Well, let's get our bags and go! Come on, move it!" I ushered everyone to get his or her bags and go inside already. We took our designer luggage from our chauffeur and ran up to the door. It was kind of funny after that – Stefan and I entered, and then we invited in everyone else. We made our way into the lobby together after some giggles and stifled laughs. And the mansion hadn't changed its old-fashioned regal beauty in all of the many years that had passed.

We had all settled in. Or at least, we had toured the place with our bags at the foot of the large staircase. The place was a bit modernized, with new amenities like a contemporary kitchen and many large, upscale bathrooms. It was truly a beautiful place.

I finally took my belongings in my oversized and overstuffed Louis Vuitton bags and headed up to my room. I already knew which room it was to be. Stefan and Elena had taken his parent's old master bedroom. Bonnie took the guest bedroom, and Matt took Stefan's old one. It made no difference who got which one, as they were all around the same size and quality, anyway. But _still._

I was tired from having had no blood since before the flight, so I practically dragged my suitcases up the many stairs to my new room in my new home. But I wasn't exactly sure how personal this room would be yet. In fact, the soul reason I was given this room is because its former inhabitant might be back to stay, too.

I was breathing hard by the time I was finally at the door. I managed to open it with my elbow, turning the doorknob just enough so that I could push it open. I threw myself inside and dropped all of my current belongings on the floor. I closed the door behind me and looked up to see my spacious, majestic new room. There was a bathroom door off to one side, and much floor space. I saw a closet off to the side. Surrounded by some dressers and a nightstand was an elegant, king-sized bed, laid front and center.

"I told you I'd be here. Damn, it takes you guys a long time to get to your rooms," he breathed, looking at me from where he lay on the center of his bed. (Was it to be considered_ our_ bed?) He was so seductively positioned that I knew he had planned this out, just like he planned out everything he did – like he had said to me not so long ago, nothing is ever coincidence with him.

But I didn't say a thing back. There was no need for me to say a word. I just walked over to him, slowly and taking my time. I slid off my Vans and let my bare feet sink into the carpet as I further advanced toward him and the bed. I smiled in a way that has been known to make men simply go mad for centuries. He just smiled right back at me, that smirk that has captivated women for centuries, too - I was sure of that.

But now it was just him and me.

I finally made it to the edge of the bed, and I crawled up onto it to be with him. We hadn't yet lost eye contact. I crawled over toward him, and when I made it over to where he lay on his side, watching me, he rolled over onto his back. I felt a sudden burst of confidence surge through me. I crawled over him, lying down on top of his chest.

"So, long time no see," he whispered up at me, his facial expression now serious and his eyes now deep.

"Yeah, too long," I agreed. I had missed him so much from when he left at the airport. It healed every meaningless minute I had spent without him over these many hundreds of long years to know that he had missed me just as much as I had him in the past few hours.

"You have no idea," he responded. And he leaned his face up slowly toward me. It was too slow, in my opinion. I guess I'm just impatient, because I leaned right back down to him. And after centuries of me loving him - my heart somehow knowing that he wasn't gone for good, and it just waiting for this single moment in time to be with him again - our lips finally met.

It was as if something inside had just been switched on inside of me, some sort of something that I had no clue I even possessed. I had never felt anything like this before, and I was no virgin, but it just felt so fucking _good_. Meant to be; right; so wonderful, and so totally sexy.

Damon's lips felt perfect against mine. They moved with speed, need, and authority. He wrapped his arms around my back and pulled me down closer to him, as if we could truly be one single person. I entangled my fingers in his hair and wrapped my legs tightly around his hips, and I could then feel just how much he was enjoying the moment. He rolled us over, so that he was on top of me. I felt his intensity rising, with a greater urgency of his lips against mine. It was rougher now, less new and sweet. I liked it rough.

But then he pulled back suddenly, and we both opened our eyes to see each other. His eyes were wide and pleading, yet excited and wild at the same time. "Isabella, I love you," he whispered to me. "Will you be my princess of darkness?"

"Just call me Princess," I whispered back, and I leaned back in to kiss him again. But before our lips actually touched, I whispered, "I love you, too." And then our lips met each other for the second time.

_Dear Yet Another Brand-New Diary,_

_It's another September and another end to a beautiful Italian summer. How I had missed this place in all my years away from my home. It's actually our third year in Florence now – who would've guessed we would stay here so long, and plan to stay so much further into the future? We don't think we'll leave our Italian home for at least a few more years. And this is just one of the things that makes me the happiest teenage vampire the world._

_Stefan and Elena got married last week in the garden by a local bilingual priest. It was the most beautiful event I had ever seen. The dress Elena wore, the smiles on their faces, and everything about the ceremony. They honeymooned afterward for a few days in the guesthouse._

_But I haven't mentioned yet why exactly I decided to get another diary after going on a seven-month hiatus from the written word. Damon and I have been in love now since the day we moved here. And of course we've made out and had sex and exchanged blood many times since then. But we were still technically just boyfriend and girlfriend, even though we're really life-long mates in vampire terms. So, at the wedding reception party we had for them in the dining room, he got down on one knee and he asked me. He actually finally asked me! I'm engaged! And Damon is my fiancée, and we're getting married, and I can't contain how happy I am. I have loved him ever since the fucking Renaissance, and now we're getting married to each other in the twenty-first century. I love him so much; I felt complete and perfect and flying right now! Like a cloud or a marshmallow or whipped cream or a '3 Musketeers' candy bar. All light and fluffy and deliciously sweet._

_To be honest, I never really knew how I could go without Damon back then. But I did somehow, flirting and laughing and having some kind of fun somehow all the way here. Katherine originally had to drag me from Florence all that time ago, but once she brought me to Klaus, I guess things just changed perspective for me. Huh, we had thought we had killed Klaus - I guess we were wrong. Whoops. But aside from that… it's _Damon _as my future_ husband.

_Edward who? Katherine who? None of that matters. It's just Damon, Damon, and more Damon on my mind. I just fucking love Damon so fucking much._

_We're really flirty with each other. Elena whines to me how we act sometimes around everyone else. Damon can be pretty possessive and stuff, so he just likes to show off some of the things we do together – the less graphic ones, of course. We have much more fun when we're in private._

_He's also big on just talking for hours on end. Of course, we're always touching in some way, whether he's stroking me hair or spooning me or I'm his lapping or leaning up against him. Even holding hands is satisfactory, but that's the farthest apart we ever are from each other now. It's painful for us to be in separate rooms. We have no secrets and no boundaries. He calls me his princess a lot, and I sometimes call him my prince. I just cannot put enough emphasis on how much I love him! And have I mentioned that he feels the same way? I love us so much!_

_I'm rambling, aren't I?_

_Well, Stefan and Damon still kind of hate each other. A lot. But it's gotten a bit better because they've been living together for the first time in centuries. Most times that they are talking it is actually some form of argument or bickering, but they tolerate each other's presences for Elena and I, we guess. Hey, at least they've improved their relationship. You can lead a horse to water, and of course a vampire could compel it to drink, but you can't compel a vampire horse all filled up with Power like Damon or Stefan is. I know, stupid made-up saying. Whatever._

_Bonnie and Matt. Where do I start? Bonnie still has her witch abilities, which enhance her Power a bit more. Matt is still chivalrous, all-American Matt. And they're a pretty cute couple now that they're sleeping together. Yeah, I know. We're a family of couples now, just like the Cullens had been! It's kind of funny when you think about it. What would poor little vision-blocked Alice say? Yeah, she can't see me anymore. I blocked her with my Powers. But anyway, what does that matter._

_Damon and I are the only ones in our family that drink the blood of humans. Everyone else just has to be a total goody-goody about that. But I've gotten us out and about before. I believe in encouraging sociability. So we've played strip poker and truth or dare and all of those games before. It's not like some of it matters all that much. We live forever; we need some constant entertainment. I can't wait to take these people to Las Vegas eventually._

_I'm thirsty. Damon's watching me write all of this, so I guess we're going to go hunt down some hot young locals now. Arrivederci!_

_~Isabella Rosalini (Salvatore!) _


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N::: So, I haven't been doing much writing lately, just a lot of reading. I reread The Awakening and The Struggle books, and I have read a lot of fics. I can't wait for Shadow Souls to come out in just a matter of days – so soon, and just in time for my birthday!!! I already preordered my copy about a month or two ago. Yay! Oh, and go team Damon Salvatore. **

**I love you all, darlings!!! Shouts outs to Twilight Cromwell and anneryn7! :D**

**~Warning: A bit fluffy in the beginning of the chapter, but gets much better as you get further into it. Very Super Important Chapter! :D Yay!**

**Let's get 100 reviews for this story!!! We're at 99 as I post this chapter up!!!!! I believe in you guys!!!**

* * *

**Isabella**

I snuggled further into his chest, against his toned, hard chest. He was still asleep, but I was wide-awake, my senses on overload. I couldn't stay still under here any longer, whether Damon was there or not. I slowly stood, and successfully didn't disturb his sleep. We had stayed up really late last night together, shamelessly keeping the rest of the house up for a little while, too. I took a thin sheet from our bed with me and wrapped it around my exposed, naked figure.

I walked towards the balcony overlooking _mia bella Italia, _and looked out over my home country. It was so serene and peaceful on this September morning. I smiled, because I felt the same way. Everything felt so perfect in the slight breeze. It wasn't too bright, but I still squinted at the slight pain the sun caused my eyes.

I felt his arms wrap around my waist suddenly, and he picked me up. I laughed hysterically in my surprise, trying to hit him. He just lightly threw me up in the air, spinning me. He caught me facing him.

I took him in: his dark, straight hair, his perfectly sculpted features, and his dark, deep eyes that were staring right back into mine. And of course, his seductive lips caught my attention, too. Immediately, they were on mine, kissing me. His lips then moved down to my neck, where he brushed away my hair to further expose my throat. He found two familiar little punctures, the wounds still fresh. And he bit down, sending me into a state of pure bliss.

***

_Dear Diary,_

_Damon is the best damn thing in my life. Can I thank Katherine for changing him and still hate her at the same time? Oh, whatever._

_So, Damon proposed to me a few weeks ago, as I have previously mentioned. No, we have not tied the knot yet. We have actually decided that we're going to live out our engagement to its fullest. So, Diary, what do you think of us possibly going back to America? I don't really know yet; you're the first one I'm telling about my idea. I think it would be fun to do so. Like I had said so long ago, I wanted to have fun with my family. Mess with humans? Have a blast? With all of our Power we could rule the school, not to mention the whole world, but we have no need or world domination yet. Stefan and Matt would never approve. What goody-goody-two-shoes._

_I've been with my family for a few years now here in Italy. I think it's a great time for us to make our first move as the six of us, all couples for life, death do us part._

_No matter what the hell happens, we are not going anywhere near Forks or Fell's Church. We could so easily be recognized and everything we had built for ourselves could fall apart. So that's really not a great idea for us. I was thinking a low-key town where we could just have fun. I don't know, Alaska? I honestly am still figuring it out as I write this, so I guess_

"What are you writing this time?" Damon whined sarcastically at me, crawling up next to me on our bed and reading over my shoulder. _Viva Las Vegas, cara,_ his mental voice joked at me. I smiled, putting down my pen and throwing the small diary aside and climbing on top of Damon with a wicked smile.

_You like my idea?_ I queried, leaning down to his lips, kissing him lightly and making a trail of kisses down to the base of his throat.

_Si, _Damon confirmed in a low, quiet thought as I reached the spot I wanted to be at, and I bit down. We were now completely consumed with each other's feelings of pleasure and ecstasy. I loved Damon, my one and only king of the shadows, so much, and forever and ever.

**Edward**

It had been years. I was back with my family again, but we weren't the same anymore. I didn't think we ever would be the way we had been before her again, but I couldn't let any of us go back to Forks. She was to have a normal, undisturbed, and safe life without us.

I sat at my piano, not playing, just sitting on the bench and staring at the keys. I hadn't played since before her birthday party. I was alone here in the living area of our home in Rochester, New York. Alice and Jasper were upstairs, while the rest of my family was out hunting. It was mid-afternoon now.

I heard Alice and Jasper coming down the stairs now. _So what am I supposed to tell him? _Alice thought at Jasper, her emotions going a bit wild until he calmed her. Her thoughts no longer hinted at anything. She was mentally writing a research report on Shakespeare's play Hamlet. It was blatantly obvious that she was hiding something from me that it was almost painful.

"Edward?" Alice called to me softly as she entered my vision. Her face was a bit solemn and concerned. Always worrying over me, but I didn't need it. It was starting to get more annoying everyday, but only Jasper knew it. Everyone else thought I appreciated his or her sympathy or whatever it was they were trying to convey. We were all sad; they would just have to deal with it.

"What, Alice?" I responded in my usual monotone. I looked at Jasper and her standing at the base of the stairs together. It was like neither of them could think of how to tell me something important. What, was there some replay of 9/11 going on somewhere? If not, I could probably care less. "Oh, just spit it out already."

I immediately heard her thought directed to me. It was quiet, meek, and short. She made it very brief and hidden, but it was definitely still there. _I can't see her, Edward._

"Why?" I managed to choke out. I didn't care that I had forbidden her from looking for her. I didn't care about any of that leaving her alone crap. I just wanted an answer. My… no.

_I can't see any of Forks or even Washington. I can't; it's all blocked… _Alice confessed in pain, letting much concern, pain, and frustration leak into her thoughts. I didn't know what to think. But she was interrupted suddenly by a vision coming to her. I kept watching what she was seeing, unfeeling and unthinking. But the first image in her mind brought me back to the world.

_A large group of teenagers walking down a school hallway. All wearing expensive clothing and designer sunglasses, even though they were indoors. They carried no bags or books of any sorts, and those around them backed and shied out of their way as they walked. They all wore identical blue rings. There were six of them, and they seemed to be three couples. One was of a blonde girl and dark-haired boy; one was of a redhead girl and a blonde boy; one was of a brunette girl and a dark-haired boy. The two dark-haired boys looked to be brothers, and the one with the brunette looked shorter than his brother, yet also appearing to be older than all of the rest of them. His arm was draped casually yet possessively over the brunette girl's shoulder, and she smiled up seductively at him. They were all looking at each other, smiling, and laughing, yet not actually speaking any words. They had an air of authority and power to them; and dark aura of likeability and difference floated around them. They seemed dangerous, and many people around them could sense it. On the edge of the oldest boy's black shirt was a small, miniscule tear, and it was tinted almost a blood red shade that was nearly invisible against the black fabric._

The vision ended. Alice and I were staring at each other, both of our mouths agape. We could barely think, except for one thought. It was screaming in Alice's head as she turned to her mate, who looked very confused. She whispered one word to him. One simple that word that meant everything.

One of the dangerous, superior looking teens. The brunette. The one with the seductive smile and older boy's arm around her. Bella.

**Isabella**

A part of would always tune Damon out when he was being sarcastic and rude to the rest of my family. They didn't quite accept him as one of them sometimes; most times he didn't either. Him and Stefan still feuded often. But I loved them both, so I put up with it sometimes.

Other times, I listen to ever little thing he says and watch every facial expression – all of the smirks, lies, insults, glares, and whatever else. When I pay attention to what he says, he ticks me off to a near breaking point.

But I love him, despite all of his many emotional flaws, because I know they all started with Katherine. She was the one to blame for everything; if not for her, I would have died as Isabella Rosalini Salvatore long ago, married to one of them due to our parents' close relationship. Because of her, we al had to go through some very painful experiences in order to meet up hundreds of years later. But I would never tell anyone that. Especially Elena and Stefan.

So what if before that Damon also had some issues? The women, leaving university… I was a lovesick child, and my love was so incredibly blind. I was almost cursed to feel how I do about him, but I do, and now I thrive in it. He had always been a charmer. Thanks god the years had turned me into one, too. And Katherine. Shit, it always comes back to Katherine, doesn't it?

Well, anyways, I got a bit off track there. Whatever. I was just so excited to go back to America soon. The land of high hopes and heartbreak. How enticing to a princess of the shadows, darkness, and night. And her prince, too, of course.

Damn, I was so thirsty.

_Damon, let's go._ I thought to him, motioning to our open window and out into the night. He smiled menacingly and came towards me, and we left to go hunt together.

We found a nice wandering couple a few miles north. They were walking home hand in hand, smiling deep into each other's eyes. And they would taste so good. Damon and I stalked them from the shadows, and using our speed were in front of them and on them, drinking in their sweet lives. We wouldn't spare their lives tonight; I could feel the bloodlust in the both of us.

We finished up and licked our lips. "You know what? I think we should go tomorrow. Just get everyone up and all head out tomorrow. Spontaneity and all that," I suggested, feeling light and full and wildly energized after my complete meal.

"Why don't we just leave them all behind? Isabella, think about it, just us together, alone. Some people just don't make the best housemates," Damon complained subtly, keeping a contemplative expression on. He was being like _that _again. "A few years with them, so what? That's not reliable history. We can only trust each other."

I shook my head in annoyance, and pulled his face down to mine. I didn't care for his scheming against Stefan and whoever else. But his lips tasted so good, a mix of Damon himself and blood. I couldn't help myself.

I pulled back giggling with a seductive, evil expression. H smirked down at him, his signature little smirk that was just so Damon. I brought his lips down to mine again, kissing him in the Italian moonlight. It was maybe our last for a very long time.

***

"Oh, get up," I scolded at the sleeping and barely clothed Elena and Stefan. They heard me and woke up, Elena scrambling to cover herself up with the sheets. Damon was right behind me, and we stood as a united front to the day's goal: get everyone's cute little asses on a plane to New York.

"Get out, you two! Gosh, sometimes you guys can be a pain," Elena complained, looking at us with wide, amusing eyes. I felt no empathy for her here; I wouldn't be really embarrassed if they came in while I was in minimal clothing with Damon. But then again, they would never do that, would they?

"Damon, I swear, if you don't get out _right now_ –" Stefan began, only seeing Damon. But he saw me and sighed, looking back at his brother again. "This better be really important."

"It is!" I reassured, a wide smile crawling across my face. My eyes grew bright and excited as I explained. "We're going back to New York! And now - like, this morning now. So get up, get dressed, and get ready. We're leaving and you're _going _to _like_ it."

"And where in hell did she get this idea?" Stefan asked his brother, which wasn't exactly normal, as he usually always spoke to me first. He probably thought I was losing it or something. Ha, that would be funny if he told Damon to restrain me or something.

"A map, you idiot," Damon retorted sourly. I hit him lightly on the shoulder, and he looked down to me shrugging innocently.

"I want to go to high school with you guys! And I want to get married there," I snuck in at the end, leaning into Damon's side. They would give me what I wanted; they had to.

"I say yes." The voice from the doorway was tired, but bubbly. We turned to see – duh, who else – Bonnie standing there with Matt. "Right, Matt?"

"Yeah. Come on, you two," Matt said. "Like B said Get dressed so we can leave."

"Because Mutt's opinion always counts," Damon whispered sarcastically, and I was tempted to laugh. But I knew there was nothing stopping us now. We were going back to where we all met and became a family.

I wondered if Stefan's black Porsche 911 was still in the JFK airport long-term parking lot.

***

It was.

Unfortunately, we couldn't all fit in the Porsche, so Damon, being Damon, decided just to buy himself a new bright red Ferrari so he could drive us two to wherever we were going. The other four would ride in Stefan's Italian sports car. There was obvious rivalry amongst them with the cars. I was, no offense intended, on Team Damon. As I thought this, getting into his new car in the late night, I saw Damon smirk in victory. Us two always won everything.

"I need to buy you a car," he suggested. "Something else Italian… what do you think, a Lamborghini or a Maserati?" I looked back at him with wide eyes.

"I have money, you know, mister! I don't need you to buy me expensive things like that!" I argued with a slight blush. I was flattered, but still a bit flustered.

"Well, then, you'll just have to get over it, because you are getting a new Gallardo for our engagement. And you'll love it." He wasn't looking at me anymore; he was just starting the car with a big smile on his face. It was that smile again. I would definitely be getting that car, and I had no say in it. Best fiancée ever.

I knew this would only end with one word. "Silver," I told him. _A silver Lamborghini Gallardo._

_Okay, so where are we going now, B?_ Stefan sent to me from the airport parking lot – Damon and I were at a car dealership a mile or two away. Wow, his Powers were pretty strong today. I think I know what he and Elena were doing last night…

_I would say somewhere we've been before, but recognition is out of the question. Elena and I are dead girls, and all of you guys are either dead or runaways. So how about… Syracuse, or Rochester? I don't know, maybe just somewhere in this state? I've always loved New York. Getting married here would be a dream._ I was starting to obsess a bit over the flexible wedding plans. I was so excited, and you really couldn't blame me. I was over half a century old now; it was about time I settled down.

_Rochester? That sounds about good. Everyone here thinks that's a great idea. So, are we heading there right now, immediately? _Elena sent to me. I smiled. We had a destination point now.

_Yep! Right now. Damon, step on it. Elena, I'm going to go ahead and find a nice house on my iPhone. We'll be residents by the morning, and then we can sleep all day. Sound good? _I thought to her.

_Perfect! See you there._ So I took out my iPhone – that Damon bought me – and looked up Rochester, New York real estate for six people. It was a bit difficult to find a place with three master bedrooms, but I found a mansion-like residence that was positively beautiful. There were a lot of trees around it, and it was a bit out of the way. I loved it, so it would be mine.

Okay, so it may have taken a bit of compelling and expressions of violence, but Damon and I were finally pulling up in the Ferrari to our new home. It was exquisite and hidden, beautiful and exotic, like us. It was an architectural reflection of us in a strange way. Only our house wasn't menacing or murderous or anything similar to that.

Damon was out of his door and opening mine before I had barely even registered that he had parked and turned the car off. He took my hand and helped me out, and then scooped me up his arms bridal style. I gasped and giggled in delight, and he looked back at me, and then the house. His expression was a thoughtful one. The he started walking up toward the house, up the front steps and to the large French doors. He swung then open, and we stepped inside to the perfect house for us. It was modern, yet had tints of old fashioned majesty that made it perfectly beautiful in my mind.

He brought me up to the most distant bedroom from the door, on the third floor. It was a dark room with a large four-post bed. The walls were a deep, dark shade of red. Most furnishings were very dark brown or black. I loved it.

Damon had brought up all the bags later on after settling me into bed. I felt asleep as he did so, but he woke me up again when he finished. He told me that he was leaving to pick up my car. I just mumbled a tired yes and fell back asleep as he kissed me forehead and left.

I didn't dream. I just woke up again probably many hours later. The house was bustling; there was shouting and running and action going on everywhere. I apparently slept in on something important… huh, someone had probably enrolled us in the local high school. I needed to get moving; this would be fun.

"Damn it, Princess, you slept a whole day! Gosh, I've never seen a vampire sleep more than ten or so hours at a time. Then again, you are pretty special," Damon joked with his little smirk playing on his lips, appearing out of nowhere and kissing my forehead as I sat up and stretched. I laughed at him and just stood up, walking to the closet. "Yep, everything's already put away. It's almost as big as this room in there. I see why _we _would need one that big. There's a whole wall-to-wall rack of Italian leather jackets in there."

Damon was right behind me, already dressed, but just helping me… undress and redress after several minutes of… thoroughly enjoying each other's company. And he picked out my outfit. In a way, he totally wanted to show me off today to all the humans: 'Hey, kids, look at what I have you don't?' But he mainly just wanted to watch me all day in the hottest outfit I owned.

I, Isabella almost-Salvatore, was flattered.

We headed downstairs together, but I was immediately taken away from my love.

"Your make-up needs to be done perfectly today! Get your cute ass back upstairs, sis!" Bonnie commanded, with Elena already dragging me up the stairs. Damon just laughed at me as I waved bye to him from my captor's possession. I loved these two.

Another half hour later and not long at all before our first day of 'humanity' began, I came back down the stairs feeling like the true goddess of the night. I wore my favorite dark blue Ray Bans, a grey D&G top, a black cardigan over that, a black leather jacket, and my skinniest, darkest skinny jeans – with black tall Uggs, of course. Dark and fun, and Damon had helped pick it all out. My sisters and Matt wore lighter colors than I, but Damon and Stefan both went with their classic black and white looks. And of course, they all wore Ray Ban sunglasses, too.

It was the second week of the school year for the high school, a Monday morning, a new start after the weekend.

My family and I all ran outside together, Matt giving Bonnie a piggyback ride and Stefan shouting in excited anticipation. I couldn't wait, either. Hence, why I practically tackled Damon before he unlocked my car.

"No; we're taking your car. Bonnie and Matt are taking mine; Stefan and Elena are taking his. It's easier, and much more dramatic that way," I explained, as we girls had planned this out while we did our make-up and hair together previously.

We had also planned out our story, as the guys probably wouldn't care what it was. We made it as amazing as possible. We each explained it to our men in the car on the way there.

"So babe, you're Stefan brother and Matt's cousin. You three live together, and with your girlfriends: us. You are the eldest, a senior, and an adult – 18. The rest of us are all juniors, so we might not have any class periods together but lunch. We all have our real names, I guess. No one would know us here," I finished with my explanation. Damon was looking at me as I spoke, not caring to watch the road – as usual. He nodded and smirked in a way that it made him look a lot younger. "Oh, and we have to act our supposed ages. I guess that won't be too hard for you, to act 18." He laughed at me.

"Get drunk often, make out spontaneously with my girlfriend in public, and look great – I think I can handle that," he reassured me.

We all got to the school - which consisted of several different tall buildings and gymnasiums – in a line of three ostentatious sports cars. The crowds of teenagers ogled at us as we all drove in and parked side-by-side in the student parking lot.

I laughed at their expressions, and leaned over to kiss Damon on the lips. "Ha, this will be so fun!" I hugged, him, clinging to his chest and he turned off the car. But then my laughter stopped, and my throat became choked. My eyebrows pulled together, and if my eyes were visible through my glasses, they would have been shocked, maybe even nervous or angry – but probably just very sad. I gasped slightly when my throat opened up again, letting me breathe.

I saw a little silver Volvo parked on the other side of the lot.

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**A/N::: Such a long chapter, I know! Oh well, I hope you like it. Get ready for a little bit of drama!!! **** love you always, my readers!!!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N::: Wow!!! I've got way over 100 reviews for this sotry!!!! I cannot thank all of you guys enough for everything you've done for me. I'm so grateful for such great friends, readers, and reviewers. You're all positively lovely, my darlings. **

**Get ready for what you've all been waiting for…**

**Vampire Diaries vs. Twilight character action!!!**

**P.S. You'll just love the name of the high school they're all attending. It's magically delicious! **

* * *

**Isabella**

There it was, sitting right there, mocking me with its shiny silver Volvo-ness. I shook my head slightly, staring at it with wide eyes and my eyebrows creased together. I couldn't take the sight of that stupid car. It was eerily identical in every aspect. It couldn't be his, it couldn't… Oh shit. That was his Washington state license plate, the number, everything. Huh, he needed a new license plate.

But there was not a familiarly deathly pale face or golden eye in sight.

"Isabella? Are you okay?" Damon asked me. I'd been in his arms, staring over his shoulder in the car with him. That's right, we had to get inside. Class was starting really soon.

"Oh, this is about to get much crazier than I thought it would be," I breathed, leaning back to look at my love with my wide, vulnerable eyes. His scrutinized my face worriedly; I wasn't often this frazzled or nervous about something. Not often at all, like about as often as I get pushed in a pool. Two years ago, courtesy of a Mr. Matthew Honeycutt. Let's just say that he regretted it.

"Oh, please don't tell me what I think you're…" I nodded sadly, shrugging a bit. He chuckled, surprising me, but with a potentially violent, mischievous expression. "Oh, fuck, this is going to get interesting."

He helped me out of the car, and we made our way over to our family. They were all looking at me with wide-eyed expressions of surprise and confusion. _He's here,_ I sent them in my mind, and they all kind of gasped, I guess you could say. Stefan looked almost bordering furious. But then he smiled in a way I wasn't used to seeing on him – it was a similarly evil smile to Damon's.

"Well, we're going to have some fun today," Stefan stated, and turned around to walk to toward the school and all of its staring bystanders. We followed behind him, this Stefan so bold and protective. Elena took his hand, and he looked back at her smiling sweetly. Then he looked at me quickly, and winked.

I looked up at Damon, walking by my side, and he winked too. But only then, he leaned down a kissed me on the lips, full and intense and filled with passion. We were right in front of the watchful crowds of teenagers now. Damon pulled back after the world's longest ten or so seconds, and continued walking with me with his arm draped over my shoulder. I barely even blushed though; I just held my chin up high and looked over at all the girls staring at me in jealous loathing. I leaned into Damon's side and stared forward again.

We walked into the administration office in a group and marched up to the front counter noisily, talking amongst ourselves now about Bonnie's pink neck scarf. It covered up the many marks a certain someone – cough, Matt, - had made there. We all seemed to find this very entertaining, even the cozy, classic, all-American couple Bonnie and Matt.

"Ah-hem, _excuse-moi?_ Ma'am? Hello?" The ditzy office assistant looked over to me finally and came over to the front counter.

"Yes?" she complied. I noticed the small business cards on the counter. So, this was 'Somerhalder High School' we were attending now. Cool; that's probably a good thing to know.

I removed my glasses and let forth my Power on her. "We are all signed up for the classes we have written here on this paper. You have all our needed papers by legal guardians filled out and such, and find us to be quite well behaved. There is no issue with anything we do or us attending school here. You hate and contradict anyone who disagrees? _Comprehendo?"_ I slipped my glasses back over my sensitive eyes as I finished.

Her face looked a bit distressed, but she nodded and gave us some schedules she had just printed out from the computer before her. She nodded to us and turned away.

"Gee, so now we're officially students here? Like, normal ones?" Bonnie confirmed, and I smiled widely at her with my teeth.

"Of course we are, silly. Why would we not be? Anyway, I have… French. Remember where we are from, who you are acting to be, and most importantly, who you really are. Okay, ready? Break!" I cheered enthusiastically. "Hey, girls, do you want to go out for cheerleading? Guys, if you want, you can do football or something."

"Sure, that sounds great," Matt said, and Stefan nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"You know what, that doesn't sound too bad. I can run – hello, running back," Damon mused, smiling to himself.

"How, I think we just found Somerhalder High's new starting quarterback, running back, and wide receiver, now didn't we? And the head cheerleaders," Elena thought aloud enthusiastically. "What are we again? Oh yeah: 'Go Wolves!' We're the Somerhalder High wolves? Huh, if only Tyler Smallwood were with us," she joked.

We split our separate ways, and I was alone for first period French IV class. Oh, well. Damon was alone for all of his classes. I'd just see him again at lunch. So I walked to French alone and sat in an empty seat near the back.

When the Bella rang and the teacher began to speak to us all, I was immediately in need of some serious entertainment. I propped my feet up on the top of my desk and began to text Damon. 'How is ur class? So boredddd, really miss u!' I sent to him.

He sent me back almost immediately, 'This guy looks younger than me!!! I love u and miss u, 2.'

Then I got from Elena, 'OMG I have math homework!!! Haha, I wont do it, then. '

A throat cleared right above me. A deep, manly one. "Miss Rosalini? Miss, please put that phone away and introduce yourself to the class," the teacher demanded at me, and I looked up at him from my conversations. Damn, he was old.

"_Pardonez-moi, monsieur. Bonjour, mon camarades, je m'appelle Isabella Rosalini. Je suis italienne, et je suis de Florence,_" I stated simply, and looked back down at my phone. No responses, so I put it away. I looked back up at the teacher, and he was still looking down expectantly at me. I stood up to face him, and was nearly his height.

"Would you please sit down?" he asked me, a bit nervous by my strangely threatening smile that I wore.

"_Non, merci,_" I responded. "I would like to stand up and tell you to go to hell." I removed my glasses and used my Power on him at the end, mentally commanding him to think that I was saying, _'Yes, I am sorry, and I will sit down now.' _I slid my glasses back over my eyes, making it seem as if I had done so as a sarcastic, sassy challenge. The whole class would be in awe; the teacher should be appalled, but I knew he wouldn't be.

"Thank you, miss. Good," he said, and continued with the lesson or whatever. I smiled triumphantly as the stares and gossip started up, if they hadn't already. I reclined back in my chair and sent Damon a mental message of what had just happened. He sent me a mental message of him flipping off the teacher. I laughed at how childish it was of him.

Class ended soon and I headed to Trig. I met up with Elena and Bonnie there. We talked outside the class together until after the bell rang, and then flamboyantly entered class tardy. Our teacher was not pleased with us, but her expression was so priceless.

We went to some empty seats in the back of the room, and as we strolled leisurely to our seats, all three of us without a book or a bag, I could have sworn I'd seen short black hair on white skin in my peripheral vision. But I couldn't bring myself to check and see if it really was her. I would do so later.

I had fun mess around with my sisters in class, keeping my eyes away from where I swore I could have seen her. It was if I could feel and smell her in there in the room. But I ignored it as best as I could. I just wanted to get to lunch already.

When my next class let out, I walked to history, and who would I happen to bump in to but Damon. He pulled me quickly into his embrace, and then up against the side lockers. "I miss you," he mumbled ferociously before his lips came down hard on mine.

We kissed away nearly half of the passing period until some teacher told us 'no PDA' or whatever. He reluctantly let me go and smile half-heartedly as he left. I saw his death glare at the certain teacher, and hoped she wouldn't end up lunch. I was spending that period with my Damon.

How do I put this? History was epic.

Stefan and I answered every answer correctly and embarrassed the teacher on several occasions. There was no sign of any of them in the classroom with Stefan and I, so I sighed internally in relief. That class went by fast, as did the others before lunch in which I was all alone, the only vampire.

Lunch finally came around, and I found myself sprinting at human speed to find my fiancée. I found his near the cafeteria entrance and caught him in a quick fiery kiss that made my knees kind of weak. I dragged him to an empty table, and seconds later we were joined by our family.

"Well, this has been interesting so far," Damon started, looking at me. "I have a funny feeling that the buff guy who had been sending looks at me all through third and fourth period might have been the Emmett one, was it?"

"Yep," I answered nonchalantly. Shock of them being here was really starting to wear off. I felt much better at Damon's side - much more self-assured and like myself, who made light of the situation. But yet, I felt a burning hatred at the people somewhere in this large, crowded room.

"And the girl shorter than Bonnie from fourth period was definitely the Alice one," Elena added, seeming sure of herself and her guess. I nodded.

"So, what happens when we run into him?" I just kind of threw it out there, not quite thinking about it. The wicked grins that formed on the three guys' faces were a bit scary to even me: their sister or their fiancé. That was saying a lot.

"Well, first my little brother is going to put him in a head lock, then Mutt –" I elbowed him "-will kick him very hard where it hurts, and then I'll get the matches…" Damon fantasized, staring up and around, searching for… please no, not him… I followed Damon's shielded eyes with my own until they both found the one table that dared to stare full on straight at ours. It was _them:_ shocker.

With my glasses still on, I looked at them with my head tilted away from them, so it appeared as if I was staring at Damon still while he stared straight at them. But I saw them in all their inhuman, undead beauty and confused stares. They were all looking at Damon, except for _him_, who was looking at me.

My head got a bit light and hot, and I kind of wanted to scream really badly. I looked to Damon and grabbed his hand and stood us up. I dragged him to a small, empty table in the corner of the lunchroom and sat him down. I then crawled onto his lap, straddling him. I had forgotten the rest of the world by now.

"Damon? Oh, god, kiss me," I begged him. I needed him so bad right now. Just the sight of that _thing _over there staring had made me sick with fury. Of course, Damon obliged to both of our wishes. So what if we were in the cafeteria in front of every single one of our fellow classmates? To me, it was as if we were all alone at the same time. Just us, in front of the world.

We stopped eventually - well, he did. I reluctantly listened to him for once.

"You're upset. Hey, so what about them? I don't give a fuck for their feelings, so why not just mess around. You love to; just be you. I love _you_," he said. "We should just head to class," he whispered, breathing heavily. In that moment, the bell rang. We shared one long, final kiss before we stood up and went our separate ways. We smiled goodbye at each other

Why did I always have Biology class after lunch? This better not turn out like last junior year's. Oh well, like Damon said, I was just to be me now. No Bella Swan, but Isabella almost-Salvatore. And it was going to be a hell of a lot of fun, I figured, as I walked into the room. Because who did I happen to see? Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. And God must hate me or something, because the only seat was right where anyone would guess it was. Fate was not being very creative right now.

"Miss Isabella Rosalini, is it? Ah, you're one of those teens from Italy, I see. Huh, take your seat by Mr. Cullen in the back," the teacher deadpanned, not even looking at me. I did as he said, swaying my hips as I walked to the back of the room. "And please take off your sunglasses, miss."

I turned back to him, entertainment rolling off me in waves. "Um, no," I said, placing my glasses on top of my head and using my Powers on him. "You never told me to take off my glasses and never will ask me in the future. Do you understand?" My voice held sarcastic authority, yet entertainment was clear in my tone as I commanded the teacher with my Powers. I waited for his automatic response.

"Yes," the teacher spoke, and he looked at me almost frightened, yet willing and agreeing, because I made him to be so. I smiled contended at him, placed my glasses back over my eyes, and he turned around and walked away. I did the same, walking to my seat and fluidly lounging down in it. Ah, making new friends with teachers was fun.

He didn't dare to say a word as he sat there, right next to me. I knew he was in shock or something, and probably had been since he had first seen me, or since he had figured out I was actually here. What was he joining to do about it? He didn't want me around, anyway.

In truth, I had never really used my Powers fully on any of the Cullens. I had never looked into their minds or compelled them. I acted completely normal around them – being Bella Swan - except for just now. I was Isabella Rosalini. And so I used my Powers and took a quick sneak peek into _his _mind.

_What is wrong with her? What happened? Does she not recognize me? Who is she now? I don''t get it at all… what the hell is going on here? Bella, please, I'm so lost, what happened to you? You haven't aged a day, but your heart is still beating and you're acting so strangely, and you're with someone else…_

I couldn't help it. What was I supposed to do, keep a straight face? I laughed. I small giggle, but it got bigger and louder progressively until my shoulders were shaking and some people who weren't already staring at me looked over. Teacher didn't notice. He would probably pretend I didn't exist for the rest of forever.

Oh, I was going to have so much fun n this class.

_Oh, Edward, _I sent into my neighbor's mind in a quiet, eerie, and whispering tone. I could slightly hear and see him stiffen beside me. He was already looking at me a bit, but now he was stock still, no longer even breathing._ Edward. Edward, can you hear me? Nod once if you can._

He nodded the most miniscule amount possible. _You can do way better than that, mister. Don't make me mad._ He nodded to me more blatantly now, and I now turned slightly towards him in a fake yawn. I closed my eyes to the point where they appeared closed even through my sunglasses, but I could still see just fine with my enhanced vampire vision. I watched him.

_They're going to get you, Edward. The voices. They're going to get you, boy. _I lost control for a second, and I giggled to myself.

Edward wasn't as stupid as I thought he was.

He turned completely to face me, his facial expression attempting at composure, but to me it looked kind of like horror. His eyes were wider than usual and they were darkening. I knew he could see through my sunglass lenses, and I appeared sleeping or resting to him. So I opened them and batted my eyelashes at him. My smile widened in a sour and kind of feisty way. He stared at me, a bit dumbfound. I turned away and towards the teacher, and at the right moment.

"Uh, Miss Rosalini, your answer, please?" Mister… someone asked me. I never caught his name in the beginning of class, but if I had I would have forgotten it anyway.

"Anaphase," I spoke clearly in a sweet, high voice.

I was quite pleased with myself as the bell rang just then. I was up and out the door before _he _could do a thing. I ran right into Damon's eager arms and returned his embrace. I leaned up to kiss him playfully. I pulled back after several seconds.

"I had fun that period," I stated, smiling up at him with enthusiastic, bright, sparkling eyes.

"And so did I," Damon told me, returning my smile with a satisfied, evil grin. "A miss Rosalie dared to come right up to me and ask me all about us. Where we were from, who you all were, and a whole hell of a lot about you. Annoyed the hell out of me until I told her to just shut up. Her face was so priceless that I tried to take a photo. Didn't work out, but I was saved by the bell," Damon answered, seeming quite smug and delighted with himself.

He kissed me again with an aggressive fire that had me with my back up against a locker. But all too soon, he pulled away.

"Go to class, now," he told me, and he kissed me once more before he turned around and left. I watched him go, and then went to my PE class.

PE was stupid and boring, to say in the least. I had it with no one else I knew or cared for. So, it went by in a blur with no lasting memories – except for not wearing my sunglasses, and for shamelessly changing in the locker room, causing me to show my extremely racy lingerie. Bonnie and Elena had probably gotten the same thoughts directed at them: _lucky bitch, what a slut, her boyfriend probably likes those, she's so anorexic, I can't believe she actually lives with that guy, I wonder how she got those weird cuts on her neck, _and so many more.

Hooray for attention.

So class ended, and I ran outside empty handed. No other vampires were in my sight, so I simply climbed onto the hood of Damon's Ferrari and lounged back on it. The clouds were covering the sky up, making the cool air feel nice. Ha, no sparkles today for the Cullens. I giggled, and probably blinked, because Damon was immediately right in front of me.

"Shh," he whispered, and he leaned down over me, licking his lips. He then removed my glasses to the top of my head and placed his hands on the car on both sides of my shoulders. He leaned face down to mine, and our lips met. He kissed me, bending over onto me so that our chests were touching. I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck, and my legs encircled his waist tightly. I could feel him against he, and how much he wanted me, but stripping and taking me right here was probably not a smart idea.

He kissed down my neck now, brushing my hair away from my skin out of his way and exposing his favorite place on my neck. He kissed me right there, and was probably getting ready to bite me soon, but throats cleared themselves above us. I had heard that before – _Stefan and Matt_.

Damon and I both untangled ourselves and stood up, straightening out our clothes, hair, and such. Damon glared at his brother for a couple of seconds before looking back to me. He threw my hair over my shoulder, once again exposing my neck. He kissed me right on the punctures, and then leaned back, smiling his signature sarcastic smirk over my shoulder. I turned to see what Damon was looking at.

There they all were, standing still over near their car and watching us. It was so bright, and I felt vulnerable for some reason… my glasses were still on top of my head, so I put them back on slowly, watching the Cullen family's every breath, every move. _He_ wasn't looking at my face, though. His eyes were wide, and he was looking at… my neck. I self-consciously brought my fingers up to my neck and felt the very exposed and visible little puncture marks there.

And the plot of my life story just thickened.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N::: I love you all so much!!! So many reviews; I can barely process how much support and love I'm receiving from you guys! :D**

**Many of you asked for some Cullen POVs in this next chapter. So, in my thanks, here you all go:**

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**Emmett**

Is it just me, or have Alice, Edward, and Jasper been quiet this past weekend? Hey, I didn't know. We were all fairly quieter these days. We all missed her, my baby sister.

So we got to school on Monday and went along with our usual day-to-day routine of playing human. Nothing too special or out of the ordinary.

Until I smelled her again for the first time in years.

I was in my third period class, sitting in a random seat before the bell had rung, and suddenly the room starts to smell like her. I look up; I'm sure she's somehow shown up here miraculously. But no, there's just some good-looking new kid in the room with Ray Bans covering his eyes and dark, expensive designer clothes. He has this weird deadly, authoritative aura to him. And he had her exact scent all over him.

"Ah, here you are. Class, this is Mister Salvatore, a new student. Would you like to introduce yourself?" Ms. Maybury asks him.

He just shrugs and says, "I'm Damon Salvatore. I am from Italy, and I just moved here with my girlfriend and some other friends and family."

He took to an empty seat with no bag or any belongings on him. He sat as the bell rang, and I watched him. He lived with _his girlfriend and friends from Italy_? I had a hard time believing that; that was kind of like what my family did.

Wait, did he have some sort of secret? His heart was definitely beating; there was nothing seemingly wrong with or different about him that I could tell. He didn't ever take off his sunglasses indoors, though, even though the room was dimly lit and it was overcast outside.

I looked closer at his face. My enhanced sight helped me to see what looked like a faint trace of lip-gloss or something on his lower lip. But I couldn't be sure, because he licked it away, but then he looked over at me, so I looked away. Damn it, what was up with this guy? It was like he could read my thoughts… but only Edward could do that; only a few vampires in the world could.

I felt his gaze on me for a moment longer, and he finally turned away. I waited a bit longer to look back at this new kid – Damon Salvatore was his name. Salvatore smelled just like her, all over him. I had to admit that he was intimidating to look at, even for someone as invincible as me. He was much shorter and less built than I was, with his black hair falling into his face slightly over his sunglasses. An air of unstable danger still seemed to swirl around him.

Bella couldn't be with him, could she? No, she had graduated high school a couple of years ago, and was probably at U of W or somewhere now. But I didn't know for sure, because Edward had basically forbidden any one of us to ever look for her or be in her life again. This Salvatore seemed much older than 18 in my opinion. Bella was 20 now; her birthday had been last week actually, a mourning day for my family.

Salvatore looked back at me, and I turned away after we made eye contact through his deeply tinted Ray Ban sunglasses. His eyes were a dark, dark color. And they looked irritated. I thought about what they had looked like, nearly coal black like the intense or thirsty eyes of my kind. But they were deep, possibly an uncommon shade of blue. But I didn't believe my own thoughts.

He turned away, and after a few minutes burst out laughing at nothing in particular. Everyone turned to face him, Mrs. Maybury clearing her throat in annoyance at his interruption. But he kept a smug smirk on his face and motioned that he was fine.

The Bella rang soon after, and I followed after him to my next class, which he apparently had too – French. I continued on through the door and sat down near the back of the room as always, but he was stopped by the teacher in the front of the classroom.

"Ah, Mr. Salvatore! I had another one of you Italian kids first period, who was it now… Oh yes, Miss Isabella Rosalini! What a nice young girl, a junior," Monsieur Marseille started, completely catching my attention at the word 'Isabella'. "You know her well, I take it?"

Damon smiled in a way that nearly made me cringe. "Yes, I believe I do. She's my girlfriend, and we live together," he stated arrogantly.

I froze in shock.

"Oh, really? Do you have parental supervision?" Monsieur asked, stunned.

"I am an adult enough for family, thank you," Damon argued.

"And who do you live with, then? As the adult of the family," Monsieur skepticized.

"_My beautiful girlfriend Isabella. My brother, my cousin, and their girlfriends live with us. I own the house, and there will be no further questions asked_," Damon sneered, placing his glasses atop his head and looking at the teacher right in the eyes. Monsieur looked confused and afraid, but relaxed after a few seconds.

"Very well then, Salvatore. You may take a seat," Monsieur dreamily said, and then began to speak something in French. But I didn't hear it, and I could care less. Isabella. Bella. Isabella.

This guy was with her, and she was here at school today. Bella was here.

Why? What the hell was going on with this? Bella wasn't from Italy, and she hated going by Isabella. And her last name certainly wasn't Rosalini. She was Bella Swan; she was our Bella. She didn't belong to this Salvatore.

But then again, there was really something up here. Edward, Alice, and Jasper knew about this; Alice had a vision, didn't she? That was why they had been acting weird. They were hurt, lost, confused, and kept it between themselves.

Huh.

**Alice**

I saw this coming. But I didn't think that seeing her would be this different and this difficult. She was with the two other girls in Trig class with me. She never looked my way once; she just sat around laughing around with the other girls. Sometimes they burst out laughing without a word. And sometimes they said the weirdest things that made no sense. It was as if they were two places at once or something, the three of them somehow having a conversation with people not here in the room.

She came to class five minutes tardy. That was so unlike her. They entered talking loudly and boisterously. The Teacher looked so offended, and so was I. But I was also hurt. She was so different. It was a strange feeling, I was almost afraid of her. The three girls had this peculiar aura around them.

They called her Isabella and B, never once Bella. She wasn't ever introduced, so I didn't know anything about the three girls' story together. And the three guys were absent from their group, but I heard then talking about a Stefan, a Damon, and a Matt often. It didn't take a genius to figure out who they were.

They said something about 'back in Italy' so I figured they had met there on some sort of something? I didn't know. I was so damn confused.

**Edward**

She was here. So different, and not my Bella at all.

"So this is what you guys have been hiding?" Rosalie asked in a whisper to Jasper, and he nodded solemnly. We were all sitting at our table, quietly musing about her.

"The senior one, Damon Salvatore, he called her Isabella Rosalini. And his… _girlfriend_. Edward, I'm so –" Emmett started in a hushed tone, but I cut him off.

"Don't say it. I, I, it's fine. We, we'll get her back," I breathed, trying to convince myself. This made no sense.

"And they live together with the rest of them," Emmett stated quietly.

"They talked about Italy a lot, and acted so strangely. Five minutes tardy for class," Alice whispered. "They seem so dangerous, it's weird. They act higher than everyone." The infamously bubbly Alice was sullen, staring at her fingernails. If she were a human, tears would be streaming down her face.

Rosalie might even cry if she were human, too. She had never like Bella when she were among us, but acted terribly after we left. She had said that being around Bella had made her feel more human. Then she broken down in tearless sobs - that had been a few weeks after we had first left.

Jasper seemed crushed in the weight of all five of our emotional sufferings. Emmett looked like a crushed little kid, but with a more mature air of pondering and confusion too him.

I would be sobbing. I felt almost dead. I had seen her and her family in the others who had seen them's minds.

And then her scent filled the room. Her intoxicating scent, send me near feeling again. But I wasn't thirsty for once. It was her, for the first time in years. I had to see her; I turned toward the cafeteria double doors. The rest of family did, too, hoping to catch a glimpse of the lost piece of our family and who she was with.

The six of them strode into the room with their heads held high and laughter shaking their shoulders. The redhead was buried in the hug of a blonde jock-type boy. Under his other arm was a football. The boy with dark curly hair was hugging and blonde girl and looking at her with eyes of adoration… I had to look away from the two of them. But then my eyes went to her.

Her long, flowing brunette hair hadn't grown or been cut an inch; in fact, she didn't look a day older than she had when we left, or even when we first met. Her skin was flawless and pale as ever. She was dressed in expensive boutique clothing that belonged on the pages on Teen Vogue or somewhere. Her chocolate eyes were wide and excited, and she was looking up at the boy with his arm around her… _get your arm off of her right now_… He was the Damon Salvatore guy Emmett had seen in his classes.

And for a quick moment, he took her lips in his.

After lunch, I was crushed by her kissing him like that right in front of me. But in Biology, I think I was too frozen in shock to think about a thing other than that my Bella was a _psychic_. She was trying to actually get at me. I didn't quite know what to think. She was Isabella Rosalini, messed with the teacher's head, and then she messed with mine. The Salvatore household was not human, now I was sure.

It was still sinking in that I was losing Bella when I walked out of Bio to see her intensely making out with her new boyfriend against a locker. If this was who she was, I didn't know who I knew back in Forks. She hadn't aged; how old was she? She was with a Salvatore; how long had they been together, and how long would they be? It couldn't be forever…

I went to Spanish in a lethal mood. I had to get her back. I was losing her every second, but she just couldn't be already gone. She had acknowledged me.

I found my family after school was all over for the day, and we took to the parking lot with somber attitudes of defeat. What would we tell Carlisle and Esme about today? We would all die in our sorrows; Alice practically had me on suicide watch in her mind. She didn't know that I wouldn't give up just yet. I hadn't even talked to this Bella yet. I had to.

I saw three ostentatious sports cars in the parking lot, and didn't need a second thought to know whose they were. A Lamborghini, a Ferrari, and a Porsche – European sports cars. I guess this Bella liked fast, pricey cars now. And there she was, leaning against the Ferrari with her posse. Her back was to me, and Damon was in front of her. He brushed her hair over her shoulder, sweeping it to the other side and revealing what looked like cuts on her neck. He leaned down a kissed them in an almost predatory way… He looked back up and smirked at me, showing his teeth. Bella turned then, too, her hands flying up to her neck. I got a better glimpse of her neck, and my eyes widened as wide as they could.

Punctures. Bite marks.

**Isabella**

_Damon!_ I screamed at him in my mind. _You seriously just did that? I have never loved you so much, but at the same time hating you is so tempting._ I leaned up to kiss him, turning away from Edward and the other Cullens present to see what Damon really was now. A vampire.

"Get in car," I scolded him in a low whisper. "They'll come by our place later, anyway." We all got in the vehicles that we came in and drove away, not daring to look back at the family of other vampires. Damon drove us home at top speed, and we arrived on our front steps soon after we had left school.

"They know now. At least about you, and if they're stupid enough, they'll think you're holding me captive or something. I used my Powers on him; he should know we all aren't human, though," I stated as we entered through the front doors – open to us vampires for entry because no humans slept or lived here, and because Damon owned it, duh.

"So they'll definitely find us and come visit then," Stefan stated, coming in right behind us.

"Of course, in the end we'll win. How do we break them the news, B? _'Yeah, I was acting the whole time, Bella Swan died before you ever met her.'_ Sounds good," Matt considered, throwing the football he had found before lunch up and down in the air. "Stefan!" He threw it to Stefan from the doorway to where he walked up the stairs, and Stefan caught it fluidly as he reached the second floor balcony that overlooked the foyer area. Elena laughed and rolled her eyes at them, walking into the kitchen and grabbing a blood pouch she had swiped from the local hospital. Bonnie followed her, grabbing one too.

"I'm not going to tell them about her yet," I said, shrugging with a faint smile. Matt looked at me with a questioning expression, and I winked at him. He laughed, mumbling something about me appearing sweet to the unknowing stranger. I giggled and turned to the kitchen.

"Hey, B, come and grab one of these! Seriously, you can even put it in the microwave if you want. Get some Powers for the grand arrival of the clueless Cullen clan. Please?" Bonnie joked, motioning me over. I obliged, liking this new idea of microwavable human blood pouches.

The sound of an approaching car struck us sooner than we thought it would. Thirsty and now all drinking up our microwavable donated blood, the six of us reluctantly threw them back in the fridge under my rule.

"Okay, hurry up and be casual. They'll be here in under a minute, knocking on the door. If they smell blood, just motion to the fridge. Offend Carlisle only if it's necessary to something Damon, I respect him. Do please offend Edward though; even call him damned if it gets to that point. Matt, you look best with the football. Don't take off your glasses unless I do. Elena, light a candle or two. Damon, kiss me," I commanded everyone, and then I pulled Damon's face down to mine, He kissed me hard for a few seconds, and then the front door rang. I smiled, motioning for Bonnie to get the door as I scampered up the stairs to mine and Damon's room.

I heard the front door open, and there was some greetings, so I figured a grand entrance is what I did best. I threw on some skimpy sweats, messed up my hair in the mirror, and within seconds of getting upstairs in the first place, I was ready to head back down. Five total seconds had elapsed, and Bonnie was just greeting Esme at the door, I could hear.

"Isabella! They're here!" Bonnie yelled up to me, and in the blink of an eye I was right next to my redhead witch sister. I felt eyes on me, and I felt so unnatural being myself around the Cullen family. I was almost scared, but not really.

"Come in," I said, turning and looking them over. I didn't have a smile on my face and didn't look specifically at any of theirs. I just looked at them in general as they looked at me with brand new eyes. They looked so bewildered, and I was tempted to laugh. But I didn't.

I turned and walked in, looking about my home. Matt and Stefan were throwing the football, still from the first to second floor. Elena was in the living room, and Damon was walking out of the kitchen into the wide-open foyer.

"Seriously, dudes! Come on, Matt," I called to them, letting them know that this might get serious and we should just all sit down how. They turned to us, and Stefan ran down the stairs to join us. "Living room, you two. Elena, we're coming in!" I called to her, and motioned for everyone to follow me into the other room. Damon smirked and turned his back on us, walking ahead of me into the living room.

"Please sit, Carlisle, Esme," I motioned for them and called them by their names. They looked at me with small, longing smiles. I timidly smiled back, keeping the hostess complexion until I sat. When everyone else was seated, I sat on Damon's lap.

"Bella, we need to talk with you," Carlisle started, and was about to continue before I interrupted him.

"Isabella, please. Thanks," I said, and nodded for him to continue. He looked at me with puzzled eyes, but then took a breath and continued.

"Isabella, then, well, we are worried for you. You have showed up here in Rochester with a different name, as I have heard from my children. You are attending high school again, but you're 20. You have a different personality, live with no one you are related to, and have an apparent fortune. Would you care to enlighten us on the is going on here?" Carlisle lost his calm composure at the end. He seemed pained and almost angry. He should be. I'm Isabella Rosalini – crazy teen vampire on the loose since the Italian Renaissance.

I looked over the Cullens, really looking for the first time. Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Emmett, and Edward. Wow, come tom think of it, the real me would get along really well with Alice, Rosalie, and Emmett. I had always really loved shopping with Alice, and it would be much more fun to go with Rosalie, too, and not have to be anyone else. I would really enjoy that; in a way, I still kind of thought of them as my distant sisters.

"Can I say something to Rosalie?" I asked, looking to her. She looked back at me with wide, surprised eyes. I knew no one was expecting that.

"Yes, sure," she said quickly.

"Rose? I now you always hated me, the me I was back then. And I'm sorry. I know exactly what you had to go through." It was true; I had seen her thinking about it before. "And now here we are, back in Rochester so much later. I know how the memories hurt, believe me." She nodded, a bit confused, but I smiled to her in reassurance.

"Isabella, what's going on?" Esme asked me in a worried voice. So I cleared my throat and started the speak.

* * *

**A/N::: Review time, my people!!!! **** I love you all!! Sorry, I know it's kind of a cliffie, but I'll update again really soon! **


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N::: Buon giorno!!! **_**SOOO sorry for the really long wait; I read Shadow Souls & it was so amazing! **_**Tell me what you think of the latest VD book in my poll! **

**Anyways, Shout-outs to Kpophile, natalie1901, Angel JJK, mordanyes, teamedward1902, Dark-Supernatural-Angel, - DAMON – AND – ELENA -, crazyperson17, NotSoSlightlyCrazy, doodlechick12, Twilight Cromwell, radiate689, anneryn7, Danielle Salvatore, and so many more people!!!!!!! I love you all! **

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**Isabella**

I took in my surrounding, the Cullens and my family. They were all looking to me, waiting for me to say something. I took a deep breath, and began talking. But I felt like delaying longer, drawing things out. I singled out Alice Cullen, staring at the pixie with an intense glaze.

"You know, we'd probably get along a lot better these days, Alice. Last week I bought three new Chanel bags in one day," I started innocently, but growing harsher and more sarcastic as I continued. I was smiling to myself a bit in loathing. "So I have to wonder why you left me without a goodbye? Just tell me Alice. Why no goodbye?"

She swallowed, her golden eyes wide and fidgeting with her hands in her lap. "Edward said-" she started, but I cut her off.

"Edward said? Really? So you'll just run around doing what Edward says? I thought we were friends Alice; I guess I was sadly mistaken, as I was all along. Because you all left. Lies, lies, lies. That's all everything ever was, wasn't it, Edward? You never loved Bella, did you? You used her." I challenged, accusing him with a sour tone and looking right at him. I have to admit, it hurt a bit, but I was enjoying his facial expression much too much.

"W-why are you t-talking about yourself in third person?" Edward choked out, stuttering a bit. I laughed at him, a bitter laugh with smile to match it.

"It doesn't make any sense, you know? The way you always acted; vampires mate for eternity, for existence. I couldn't understand at first, but now I think I do," I stated, pausing and looking at Damon. "It wasn't you at all. It was Bella all along, the whole time. It was just so completely impossible from the start. Fate would never have let it work out. You see, simply, you're not my type."

"What do you mean? I, I…" Edward tried to find his words, but he was tongue-tied in disbelief.

"And now I'm back, and I see things so differently than she did. She was naïve, shy, and so sad. I guess that's why… I'm here. With my _family_, and my _soul mate_. I wish I could say I'm sorry, but I'm _not_, Edward," I finished, my shoulders shaking as I glowered at Edward. "It was a good show, and we both had fun. But it's over and we can leave her behind now."

"I love y-" he began again, and I burst into a small fir of hysterics. Then I sneered at him, all my hatred building up in Power.

"No, You don't! You left _her_, and she's long gone," I corrected him.

"What do you mean, she's long gone?" Edward pleaded with me.

"I'm not her! I'm not Bella Swan! I'm Isabella Rosalini, and if you can't handle that then just go home!" I screamed at him, standing up. My vision was blurring. Damon stood up next to me, growling at Edward Cullen and his family.

So he stood up, looked at me hard, and then turned and walked towards the door. We all watched after him, and after he slammed the front doors shut, I ran out of the room after him, but instead of out the door, I ran up the stairs and to my room, slamming the door behind me hard enough to rip it off of its hinges.

It stormed really hard that night – thunder, lightning, clouds and rains so powerful that electrical power in the town would probably be down for days. It was a storm of pure Power, my pain, frustration, and anger.

Damon came into our room after me several minutes after ushering the Cullen family out. He paced back in forth in the room while I sat in the middle of the bed and stared out the window at my unrelenting rainstorm. I held a pillow in my hands, but a few moments later I held the two halves of it. Feathers scattered themselves all over my lap, the bed sheets, and the floor. I picked up a handful of them, turned around, and threw them at Damon. I laughed wickedly, smiling at him.

"Would you care to enlighten me as to why I am now covered in feathers?" he asked me, raising his eyebrows and studying my face. He was instantaneously kneeling down on the bed in front of me, wiping away the tears on my cheeks. He pulled his fingers away, and I could see the black tears caused by my makeup.

"You were wearing a hole in the floor with those feet," I told him.

"You looked like Lady GaGa with your mascara smearing down your cheek like that. I liked that look on you, but it made you look sad," Damon informed me. "And full of Power. Definitely; I like my women that way. But… how are you?"

"Actually, I'm pretty okay, I guess. But Edward, oh, he'll be miserable at best! We are going to have some serious fun with this," I mused, turning myself around and leaning back into Damon's chest. He lay down on his back, turned us on our sides, and just like that we were spooning.

"You know, sometimes I think you can be even more twisted and confusing than I am," Damon whispered to me.

"Just enjoying myself through the pain of those who bother me," I stated, correcting him. "Edward and those Cullen vamps, damn them."

"It would be my pleasure," Damon affirmed, and wrapped his arms around my waist. I felt another tear roll down my cheek as he did so.

"You know, it hurt me when they just left like they did. It was like I was nothing to them, but I knew that they considered Bella to be part of their family. Maybe they're even more twisted than us," I guessed. "They're going to regret it. I don't take rejection too well, and they've made themselves moving targets."

Damon thought for a moment. Hmm, Sounds tasty, Damon thought finally.

***

I didn't go to school the next day, as my storm came to a slow and sudden stop. Damon didn't go either, but the rest of our family did.

To be blunt, we drank all day. Damon cracked out all the tequila, vodka, shot glasses, and everything else while I turned on the dance music on our home speaker system. We got really drunk and danced the morning away. But lunch we were doing it on the coffee table. By the time everyone got home from school, we were fully dressed and turning on the Guitar Hero set we had bought online last month and brought here from Italy.

"Fun morning, I take it?" Bonnie asked, wandering around and inspecting the kitchen and living area: looking at the various liquor bottles and many shot glasses we had out sitting around.

"Yeah!" I yelled to them. "Join us, people!"

So we had our own version of a family game night. Guitar Hero, shots, some popular drinking games, strip poker, and then parting ways for the night into our various rooms with our significant others.

_What a day_, I thought as I drifted into sleep in Damon's strong arms.

_~Last night~_

"_Elena! Ooh, sis, someone is down to their lingerie!" I squealed at her as she took of her shirt while giggling. She was down to her bra and her thong. Too much tequila, and now we were playing poker the way it was always meant to be played – betting with your clothes._

_Matt was in his t-shirt and boxers. Bonnie was fully dressed except for her sweatshirt. Stefan was fully dressed. Damon was missing his socks and jacket. And I was in my bra, thong, and sweatpants. We were all sitting or were sprawled out on the floor in the living room area in front of the TV._

"_You're almost there, too," Elena reminded me, and I laughed at her. "You'll enjoy that, won't you?" She asked me, and I nodded drunkenly._

"_Uh, guys, school was such a drag today!" Bonnie whined while dealing out cards. "Those stupid, gay little glitter vamps showed up all pissy and retarded. They actually tried to talk to me once! Eww," she said, shuddering._

"_The emo one, he was being all emo. It was so annoying; he was all like, 'Dude, where's Bella?' And I was all like, 'Dude, not here.' So pathetic," Matt added._

"_We're so going to school tomorrow to shake things up. I'm so going to love this," Damon told us, grinning to himself. He turned to Stefan with a nonviolent expression – what a rarity. "Stefan, you're my brother," he told him._

"_You're so drunk," responded a nearly sober Stefan, who had only downed one or two shots all night – the only one of us to do so._

_We placed our bets, and in the end I lost to Damon and had to take something off. I stood up and slowly -teasingly watching my fiancé - slid off my sweatpants to the ground. He removed them from around my ankles and threw them behind me. I sat back down next to him, and leaned against his shoulder._

"_How you like me now?" I purred, staring into his black eyes. No one else seemed to notice; Bonnie was dealing our cards out again._

Take it off,_ a voice echoed in my head. I laughed, assuming the voice was Damon's, even though it didn't completely sound like him. Damon looked at me confused for a moment, then he laughed too, and we continued to play until we were all down to one or two pieces of clothing left._

I said, take it off, _the voice told me again, reappearing in my head later in the game. I looked at Damon, but he was busy looking at his cards. I probed his head, and everyone else's, but no one – especially my siblings, of course, eww – was mentally commanding me to strip. I probed the woods outside the house for anyone – nothing. Huh, I was really drunk._

"_Oh, B! You know the rules, hand over the bra!" Bonnie yelled at me, smiling devilishly. I blushed slightly, but unclasped my bra and handed it in. No one cared but Damon, who was so drunk that he would care until later._

…And now a frying pan was banging in my face. At least vampires didn't get hungover, or that would really suck.

"Wake up. Get dressed," Damon commanded, laughing at me. I smiled up at him, and then threw him off of me.

"I'll dress, but for that little stunt, you don't get to _watch_," I told him, standing up and pushing him out the door. He kissed my forehead and rolled his eyes, and them I smirked and slammed the door in his face.

It was overcast and cool today, so I bundled up in Juicy Couture. I made my way downstairs, took a swig of B positive from the fridge, and ran out the door after my family. I hopped into the Ferrari, and we drove off to school.

First period flew by, and before I knew it I walked into second period on time, looking around with a sly smile. I found Alice, and held her gaze as she watched me with big eyes. I flashed her a smirk, and then flew off to my seat. I was soon after joined by my sisters. I made no further contact with Alice Cullen that class period.

Fourth period was boring me even further than I had been earlier, and I stared out into the school courtyard. There was nothing all that special to look at, so I basically just dozed off and daydreamed. My mind drifted to Damon, as it always had for the past half century. From when I first laid eyes on him, to when he got down on one knee, to when he kissed me last night, and all the way to the way he said my name…

_Wake up, _his voice flashed into my mind, and I heard it laughing at me. I was awake; what was it? _Look into the trees, _he told me. I looked up into the tall pines growing in the center of the courtyard and had to stifle a gasp. There sat a crow, looking right into my eyes. It swooped down from the tree to the ledge on the outside of the window, right next to where I sat in my seat.

_What are you doing out there? Why aren't you in class? That's risky, Damon, but I think I might just like it, _I thought to him, smiling at him flirtatiously and raising my eyebrows. We stared at each other from opposing sides of the glass, unable to speak aloud or touch one another.

_How tragically romantic, _Damon thought to me, joking sarcasm dripping through his mental tone. I rolled my eyes at him, sticking out my tongue for a quick second. He was right, it was.

_So come on and join me then, _Damon suggested, urging me on. _You, me, cutting class, me making you say my name: all the things you so desperately desire sitting there, you being held back from the queen of the shadows you truly are. You can see the temptation, and you want it just as much as I do. Don't you? Of course you do,_ Damon lured me further. I was getting very turned on by the crow out on the windowsill. I was about to bolt for the door, but figured that I would wait until lunch and sneak off in the eyes of the whole student body.

Damon was impatient, but he agreed to wait for me – for just two minutes longer. And that was all the time that I needed.

The bell rung, and I sprung up and was out the door before it had even registered in the other students' minds to pack up their stuff and leave. I was jogging down the hallway, and finally made it to the courtyard. I looked left and right, but he was nowhere to be seen. But I wasn't fooled by his apparent absence; I simply spun around, and there he was, standing no less than an inch away from me.

And his lips came down hungrily on mine.

I was up against a wall now, both of my legs hitched tightly around his hips. I could feel his hard chest, his strong arms, and a certain something pressing against me in between my legs and driving me wild. I grinded into him, biting his bottom lip. Damon growled at me sensually, and pressed into the wall so hard I would have surely broken something if I were still a human.

But after a few more minutes – I think, no bell had rung yet – Damon pulled away, resting his forehead against mine and breathing erratically. I opened my chocolate brown eyes to see his coal black ones looking back at me. "I brought us something; got it last night," Damon whispered. He separated us and grabbed me arm, pulling me to the back halls near the school football field. And that was exactly where he took me, to the football field. There was a picnic blanket laid out at the 50-yard line; picnics were very uncharacteristic of Damon. But I didn't care, because this wasn't your traditional picnic.

We settled ourselves down on the blanket, I removed his shirt, and then he opened the basket. I guessed what I would see. And when am I ever wrong when it comes to Damon? Black Magic wine (it's like blood wine for all you TV show people), tequila, and plenty of bourbon – Damon's self-quoted "BFF" last night. I laughed, shaking my hair out of my face and looking up at him. He smiled back at me, shrugging a bit.

"To… you," he said, and we downed our shots. I giggled a bit and nearly choked – if a vampire can choke at all. To me, that was so Damon. Nothing else to say, did he? I didn't want to sound vain, but he didn't honestly care for anything but me - and himself - most times.

"You might has well have said cheers to sarcasm, death, and designer clothes," I joked at him, and his lips were immediately on mine. We weren't even drunk yet, and we were passionately making out in the middle of the football field at lunch. He pulled me into his lap, and I straddled his waist and pushed him onto his back.

I don't know when it started – somewhere between us kicking off our shoes or Damon removing my shirt – but I heard a little voice in my head murmuring something unimportant and annoying. But why was it there, and what was it doing? It was ruining my moment. I stopped ignoring the voice and started listening in on what it was saying to me - letting Damon have full control of the kissing that was still in progress.

…_I know you can here me, babe. You just wait. You will be mine, you all will. So much Power, so sexy…_

WTF? … Huh? So confused.

Whatever… this kissing was amazing. I let Damon take full control of all my thoughts, all my senses. If we kept this up, we would be having sex on the school football field during school hours. What did I care? Oh well, I guess that did sound kind of over the top. What would my family all say?

I lightened up the intensity, which took all my self-control, and finally broke away. We were both breathing erratically, and Damon was respecting my wishes and letting us stop. We opened our eyes and looked at each other for a few moments. He was so gorgeous that I could have looked at him forever – but I had to look away soon for both of our sakes.

"Calm yourself, mister," I breathed, but I was talking to both of us. I rolled off of him and onto the ground beside him. We just lay there and looked up at the sky together for a while. It was kind of nice.

* * *

**A/N::: Aww, cute Isabella/Damon stuff! Well, it's **_**reviews time**_**! Who do you think the voice talking the Isabella is? How should the Cullens find out that they never actually met the real, human Bella Swan? Tell me in your review!!! And have I mentioned this yet? **_**Don't forget to REVIEW!**_


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N::: Hey guys! Here's a really short chappie for my birthday! **_**That's right, it's my birthday!!!!**_** Aren't you all so happy for me? Of course you are; it's the bestest day ever! **

**Let's give a special thanks to you all and get this show on the road!!!**

**~~**~~**~~ **

**Edward**

I had… lost. But she couldn't be gone… it was Bella. She had to be in there somewhere, under all those lies that were called 'Isabella Rosalini'. I wouldn't give up. I couldn't. I just desperately needed a way to get her back.

I was sitting a tree a few miles from her house after a wild day at school. She and the Salvatore bastard were found on the football field together during lunch period. The teacher who found them was all fuzzy about the encounter, for some reason mentioning in a stern voice that they hadn't been drinking. It was obvious that they had been, then, and that they had used their strange mind compulsion powers on her. I felt pity for the batty old teacher.

I still can't believe what happened that night. She's not human; none of them are. She had said repeatedly that she wasn't Bella, that Bella was gone and not here. But I know she's close, just under the surface. I don't know what happened or why Salvatore has her under this trance, but she's mine and we're in love. There's nothing that can change that Bella and I are soul mates.

I'll get her back.

"And you are here why?" A voice said from next to me, and I turned immediately to the unknown presence of the unfamiliar voice. I hadn't sensed anyone approaching me, much less sitting next to me on the tree branch. It was baffled, bothered, and nervous for myself now.

It was a young man, an Asian, probably Japanese I guessed. He had hair that fell into his eyes a bit. It was jet black, but bright fire red at its tips – very strange. He sat in a low crouch half turned towards me, half towards the direction I was facing – the Salvatore's house. His expression was casual and fairly unreadable, showing no real emotion but slight curiosity and nothing too extreme. He was certainly not human – what was up with this town right now? We didn't need any more supernatural beings around at the moment.

"I, I'm Edward. Who the hell are you?" I stuttered a bit, hesitant to ask or answer.

"I'm the hell Shinichi," he replied smoothly.

**Isabella**

"This is so frickin' retard," I complained, staring at the screen. No, I hadn't lost. It wasn't possible, not again. "Damn you, Stefan."

"I already am," he replied, smiling and collecting his money from the pot. That was a lot of pointless wasted dollar bills.

I really should stop betting on myself winning Guitar Hero against him. He held the international high score, while I was only 5th internationally. And guess who just happened to be in front of me? Damon, Matt, and Bonnie. I lose to B_onnie _at this game. _Bonnie_. Damn you, Guitar Hero, for being so easy for vampires.

"Hey, cheerleading tryouts are next week! And football tryouts are the week after that! We should really get to practicing, you guys!" Elena informed us for the millionth time, running and dancing lightly on her feet through the room. She twirled and pirouetted and jumped at least a foot off of the ground, landing gracefully in front of the television screen. She crossed her arms, looking at Stefan disappointedly. "I expect more from you," she scolded him, and Matt chuckled slightly. Elena looked to him sternly, and then danced out of the room again.

"She's such a mom," Bonnie stated, taking my guitar game controller and putting down on the couch. "Well, you heard the woman! Boys, go find Damon and score some touchdowns or something. B, let's go follow them."

We were all already in loose sweats, so we ran outside to find Damon walking towards us, throwing a football up and own in his hands. Elena was behind him doing cartwheels by the forest's edge. She smiled at us approvingly at our family determination to kick some ass this year.

'So, where should we begin? You play, we cheer? Sounds good," I suggested, and we began a long day's training session. Like we even needed it. But it was fun.

**Edward**

"So you're telling me that you can get me my Bella back, if you can have the blonde Elena girl?" I clarified, looking to Shinichi for a straight answer. He was so plotting and so ambiguous that I didn't know for sure if I had him straight. His mind was silent to me; I couldn't hear a thing from him, just like the Salvatore family group.

"Of course. You help me; I help you. All that kind of stuff, like friendly teamwork. If you do your job well enough, I might even let you have a go at the older Salvatore with a stake. But no braking any agreements; he's alive until I say he's not," Shinichi explained to me. "They _all _are alive until I say they're not." Why would he want the Salvatore brothers alive? Who knows; maybe torture.

This Shinichi character was undoubtedly crazy. He said he was from Japan, that he and his sister had come for some reason that had to do with… something. He was flaky, eccentric, freaked me out, and yet was completely charismatic. He could get me what I wanted. He could get me _my Bella_.

"So what do you say, my friend?" he asked me, in an off tone, like it was only routine and he already the answer - and the action and the eventual outcome, too.

"Yes," I stated simply, looking deep into his eyes. He stuck out his hand towards me and smiled impishly. I took it firmly and shook it. His grasp was twice as hard as mine, and was almost _painful. Weird._

"Good," he said, and pulled his hand away. "I'll be seeing you then, Edward." And he was gone.

I felt something poke the back of my neck. I slapped at it, turning around. No animals every approached me, every insects. But there was nothing squished on my hand, and nothing behind me. My neck stung for a quick second, and then it went away.

Something was definitely off in Rochester.

**Isabella**

_October 1__st_

_My dearest Diary,_

_How I hate to tell this to you, but I'm actually getting a bit unnerved. The same voice won't shut after days of internal torment. I can't contact it, sense it, or figure out anything about it! I'm even more pissed than I would be if I still had my period! It's bothersome, it sucks, and I'm completely unwilling to tell anyone a thing about it. They don't notice anything off about me; I'm a great actress. But how much longer can I last?_

_Rochester has been great. Somerhalder High has been hilarious. Damon has been beyond amazing. It's me who has the problem for the first time in years. For the first time since I was in love with a 'dead' man, I'm the one who has the problem._

_But what they don't know won't hurt them, right?_

_How much longer will this be kept in the dark?_

_I feel like I'm going crazy! I swear_

I was cut off from my writing by audible scrambling and yelling downstairs. Damon was out getting blood; Matt and Bonnie were out getting new paintball guns. So it was… Stefan and Elena, then? No way could it be them!

I carefully hid my diary in the loose floorboard I had made – without Damon's knowledge, yes – and slowly made my way towards the noise. It was definitely Elena's voice that was yelling – what a rarity. It was distressed though, not angry.

"And he was right there, watching me, from in a tree! Stefan, I'm so confused, what does he want, I thought all of this over–"

"Elena! _Fermez la bouche, s'il te plaît_," I spoke in fluent French, and then I switched over to the local language. "Calm down, sis. Okay, what is it?" I rounded the corner of the stairs and found Elena clutching at the curtains on a window, with Stefan a few feet away from her. She looked terrified, and he looked taken aback. They looked over at me with wide eyes. Stefan sighed, and Elena gulped.

"I, I saw- he was- and I, I don't know-" Elena stuttered, looking back out the window, and then she took a very deep breath. She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, and then opened them, looking back to me in a much more coherent state. "I saw a man, or a boy. He was in that tree, watching me from the window with this knowing expression. I blinked and he was gone."

"You were overreacting; it's fine, Elena," Stefan argued softly, but I shushed him – well, more like snarled. He looked at me questioningly. _You believe her? Do you think there is an actual threat? _he thought to me.

"Tell me about him. Looks," I said to Elena, demanding info. I was intrigued; this could have anything to do with my nuisance in my head, or maybe even the Cullens.

"He was Asian, probably Japanese, I think. Long hair for a guy, not past his shoulders, but dyed red at the tips. Nothing special other than that," she told me, looking confused and doe-eyed in her search for some answers.

Japanese? Red-tipped hair? Dear_ god_, no_…_

_Please_ don't tell me I'm right…

I looked to Stefan, but his expression was unknowing. So he'd never met one before? He probably knew what they were, but Elena had no clue, I was sure. I would never have expected it, but with so much Power in the area, you never know what might show up on your front lawn. Or the trees by your front lawn.

"Kitsune," I whispered. "He's a kitsune. A Japanese fox spirit in human form. They're pretty peculaiar, they are. Some are good, and some are terrible. Mischievous, troublemaking, they relish in other's pain. You know, I wonder why I'm not one," I said, giggling a bit.

"Really, a kitsune? How do you know for sure?" Stefan interjected before I was finished. I put my hand up, and he quit his talking before the eventual slap came to him.

"You forget I'm marrying Damon. Of course I'm sure. I've some before. They were… bad, to say in the least," I explained, reminiscing. I looked dreamily at Stefan, but not really seeing him – instead, seeing a flashback image. "It was in the 70s. Katherine and I were in Tokyo during the cherry blossom season. And there he was, trying to molest us something like that. Yes," I thought. "Oh, and his sister was strange. They were a twisted, pro-incest couple, and worse than anyone I've ever met or seen in a mirror. They were creative – in a bad way…

"Shinichi and Misao, they were called."

***

Damon got home later that day full and in a fair mood. Or at least, he wasn't at everyone else's throat. He was always at mine, of course, but in a good way.

"M'lady. And how are you this fine morning, Miss Rosalini?" he asked me, kissing the back of my hand playfully. We were up in our room now, cozy and alone.

"Why, I am splendid, thank you for asking," I responded, winking at him.

_And what might be the reason for this?_ Damon asked me in my mind. I frowned internally. I was ecstatic to see him again, but the rest of life, not so much.

"Well, kind sir, there just happens to be a kitsune stalking us," I stated nonchalantly, turning around and looking about the room, as if it needed cleaning. Immediately Damon was in front of me again at lighting vampire speed, his face shocked and furious.

"What? Where? And you didn't care to mention this to me earlier when I got home _why_?" he demanded, walking closer toward me and placing his hand beneath me chin, tilting it upwards toward his face.

"Relax. I just want to rest now. Ask Elena, she saw him watching her though the window," I told him, avoiding his eyes. Words were spinning around in my head now, but they weren't mine. They were my mental infiltrator's words, and they weren't exactly trying _not_ to give me a headache. I was suddenly not in the mood to deal with a protective fiancée.

He got the point, but in the way I hoped he wouldn't.

"Isabella, there's something wrong. Tell me," he said, lowering his face closer to mine. I could feel his breath on my face, but kept looking away from him. Thee words were getting louder, clearer, more audible and less jumbled…

_Go ahead, drown in it. Don't tell a soul. Have fun in your misery, like you always do. Go it alone, like I could see in your eyes you always so longed to do back then. You were so lonely, so fragile, but so unrelenting to ever admit to yourself or anyone that you were. And it was all because of him, all along, wasn't it? Don't deny it, you showed me exactly how you felt all those years ago. Oh, Is-a-bel-la, you know you its all true…_

I felt my knees buckle under me, and his strong arms wrapped around my waist to prevent me from falling. My head fell against his chest, my eyes squeezed shut. Make it stop, make it stop, please…

"Isabella? Princess, say something," He crooned to me, an air of authority in his voice that only I could classify as nerves. He always acted so strong and unaffected, when he was really so scared.

_Just like you do, Isabella, you're just a…_

Make it stop, make it stop, make it…

"Make it stop!" I screamed into Damon's chest. I grabbed at his jacket and shirt, feeling like I was still falling. I could barely hear, barely think, barely breathe… It was too overwhelming, echoing in my head; I was choking…

_You'll never win, dear._

And then it stopped, with those simple few last words, my world went silent. I looked up at Damon with blurred eyes. His face was shocked, anxious, and with a tint of vulnerability he was trying hard not to show. But it still showed.

Then it all went dark again.

***

The outdoors was a beautiful place to be at midnight. The stars were shining so brightly, so many of them that it could have been an open sea stretching above me, about to come crashing down and soak the earth with all its beauty. It was a weird metaphor, but it would have to do for the moment.

I stood under the sky, looking up at it with wide eyes. I felt my chest moving up and down in an even rhythm, needing to breathe in the cool night air. I looked down at my hands. They were small and manicured, delicately lined at my wrist by the edges of a thin nightgown.

I turned around, and there he was, sitting up in a tree, fully dressed in his best clothing. I was facing away from me, looking up at the sky as I had been. He was unmoving, solemn. I wondered why, and yearned to comfort him. I found myself moving, running towards him in silence. I finally made it to his tree, and agilely climbed up to him without creating a single tear in my gown.

I seated myself next to him on the thick tree branch, and looked up to where he was looking. The stars.

"Aren't they so stunning tonight?" he asked me softly, finally turning to look at me. He smiled that familiar smile he gave me everyday. He wasn't sad, I guessed. Maybe just lonely. He knew I would be out here.

"Yeah, they are," I agreed with him, smiling softly back. "Hey, Stefan. I was wondering if, you know, he said anything about me today."

Stefan giggled softly, and I narrowed my eyes at him jokingly. "Yeah, he actually did. His exact quote was, 'Rosalini looks fabulous today. You think so, don't you? Oh wait, you two are _just friends_.' Classic Damon, huh?"

My face lit up. "He said I looked 'fabulous'? Oh, yes! I knew he would like that color red, just like you said. Oh, Stefan, you're the best," I thanked him, hugging him and resting my head lightly on his shoulder.

"He was actually staring pretty blatantly when you walked by. He would never admit just how much he liked you today, but his comment was a good start for a guy like him," Stefan stated. He tone had a hint of disgust in at the 'guy like him' part, but I didn't say anything about it. Damon had complimented me today! Maybe we really would get married someday, like I always dreamed we would.

"Stefan? Thank you," I whispered into his shoulder, and then pulled back to smile at him again. He smiled back sweetly. "You're the best big brother, best friend, family friend, neighbor, and everything!

"You know, in a few months, I heard a German princess was actually moving to stay with your family. A friend of your father's daughter. She's ill or something, I heard," I gossiped to Stefan, telling him the latest and juiciest stuff I had heard since I last saw him this morning.

"Wow, really? I'm sure Father will tell us soon. Oh, and Damon blew off his tutor again this afternoon. Really, I have no clue what a girl as great as you sees in someone like him. You have potential; you could marry a great merchant, or an artist! You could be a high lady, or maybe even a queen!" Stefan sighed, rolling his yes at me. I just laughed.

"You know that I'm no angel, Stefan. And of course I could marry a rich merchant – if Damon would just focus a bit more on his work. But I don't care if he's rich, I just want him," I said thoughtfully. "Our parents would be glad to arrange a marriage for us. He'll love me; we're meant to be. And then we'd be real siblings!"

"Yes, wouldn't that be grand! I could say I had a little sister in high Italian society!" Stefan said.

"But of course, you'll always be right with me, rich and famous, powerful and genius. I love you so much, Stefan; you'll be great when you're older! You're much smarter than anyone else your age, and of course, you have me," I reminded him, hugging him again. He hugged tightly me back. We pulled back from one another's embrace and laughed together.

"Who shall you marry? Certainly the German princess girl, if she becomes well again. I've heard that she is very beautiful, so she must be worthy of someone as magnificent as you, Stefan. Or maybe the Fettuccini girl, whose father is that banker? She is just two years younger than you are," I suggested.

"What is the princess' name? Do you know?" he asked me.

"Why, yes. She is called Katherine. Katherine von Swartzchild."

We talked a bit longer in peace together, time passing with no change in the atmosphere around us. I was sure it had been hours, but the sky had unchanged and just a majestic as before. But I soon felt that we were not alone here, out in the garden's trees overlooking the grounds.

"Am I missing something?" A voice called quietly from below us. I didn't need any other senses to know who it was. Anyone in there right mind would know that Fate had chosen tonight to bless me with his presence, his words, his attention.

"Damon? And what are you doing out?" Stefan called harshly, looking down at his older, near adult brother.

"Why, younger brother, I just got home. But that's to be expected of me. Now, you two in a tree at this hour - now that is something to be questioned," Damon smoothly explained, easily and with authority. I still hadn't looked down at him, and now cared to. He was gorgeous, dressed in some of his best clothes. He seemed in high spirits, but yet still tired. What was it now, still dark but much past midnight? Two? Three? Four?

"Shouldn't you just get back to your room before Father catches you _again_?" Stefan shot back.

Damon faked offense. "Why, are you telling me to do something? I am shocked, and in the presence of a young lady of class! _Fratello, _you should be appalled at yourself!"

I cleared my throat loudly.

"Why yes, _Signorina Rosalini?" _Damon asked me directly, and in any other situation I might have swooned. But I was coming to Stefan's defense in the best way I knew how to.

"Yes, _Signor Salvatore,_ I think that you should be getting back to your chamber, for my sake of having to look at you. Why, is that liquor I smell on your breath?" I spoke clearly, imitating his tone of pure arrogant authority he used at his brother.

Damon stared at me without emotion, and then turned around and began walking back towards the Salvatore mansion. Without another word spoken, he had just left us.

"Wow, that was uncommon," Stefan whispered when his brother was far enough away. My eyes never left Damon's back. "You must've hit some nerve, which is rare for him. Maybe he has some attachment to you. But you can't possibly still be in love with him after that confrontation, now can you?"

"Even more in love," I whispered back breathlessly. He had talked to me, and I had made an impact on him. Wow.

"You are so blind," Stefan said to me, hugging me again. I just laughed softly at him, watching Damon climb up to his balcony and turn around just enough to get a glimpse of me watching him as he walked in through the balcony door into his room.

***

The room wasn't white, so I thanked god that I didn't somehow end up in some hospital. But then again, why would that happen anyway? The room was brightly lit, so I knew it was probably the daytime. What I didn't know is why in my unconscious state I had replayed a memory of my sixteen-year-old human self.

My eyes adjusted quickly to see that… I was alone? Why would I be alone? In my room, of course, but no Damon, no Stefan, no one.

I stood up slowly, adjusting to the world around me. I couldn't have been out for more than a few hours; my flashback had been about that long in time. I made my way through my room, stumbling the first few steps and then becoming more stable and vampire-like with every forward motion. Out the door, down the stairs, and into a room full of chaos. Yelling, screaming, and then it all stopping as I entered the room. My family all looked at me, from each other, and their eyes were worried. They them collapsed on me.

"Oh, Isabella, I was so worried!" Bonnie cried.

"Vampires don't just pass out like that!" Stefan warned me nervously, taking in my physical state.

"Damn, you were going crazy, and I was so scared; are you alright, princess?" Damon asked compassionately.

I cleared my throat loudly, as I had in my Renaissance flashback. "Jeez, I'm fine. But why were you all yelling at each other?"

They all simultaneously looked at Bonnie.

She cleared her throat much less confidently than I had just moments earlier. "Um, well, I kind of bought a new paintball gun, you know, from this nice girl. She offered it to me specifically for sale, and it was really nice, so of course I had to buy it. But I got back in the car with Matt, and he said there was something weird about the gun, that it was already loaded. We got home and I jokingly tried shooting it at Damon – he was getting blood for you, I didn't know. And, and th-they were wooden pellets!! I-I'm so sorry! I'm so stupid, so easily tricked! And she knew what we were!" And she broke down.

I took Bonnie in my arms and hushed her. I looked at Damon nervously over her shoulder, and he nodded slightly. He was fine, but I could tell that he wasn't too happy – or in the best shape. Taking a better look at him, he was holding his shoulder at a weird, abnormal angle. But a bigger question than my fiancée's wellbeing was throbbing in my mind – my entire family's safety. I looked up at Matt, and he looked knowingly back at me.

"Another kitsune," he whispered solemnly, and Bonnie even sobbed harder.

~~~***~~~***~~~

**A/N::: Some Stefan and Isabella 'BFF' fluff from the good ol' Renaissance times in there! Yay for the original besties!.**

**But other than that, things were pretty serious here. Sorry for no romance lately, but you'll get some soon!**

**Hope you enjoyed the Shinichi & Misao stuff, all you book series fans! For you TV fans out there reading, they are two of the villains in the books, and the worst in my opinion. Real creepers, those two. But they're funny and very good plot devices, so you'll learn more about them in here! :D**

**This is a second version of the chapter. Right after I posted it, it was brought to my attention that I had accidentally left Damon out of the final chapter. This left the illusion that Bonnie had accidentally killed him!!! I'm sorry if you read this and freaked, but it is fixed now! **

**~Love, katietheryn1**


	13. Chapter 13

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**¡™£¢∞§¶•ªº–≠!#%^&*()_+⁄€‹›****ﬁﬂ‡°·'—±**

**Isabella**

I honestly didn't believe that the kitsune had any relations at all to the Cullens; they would all go mad if they ever met one, which they were bound to do soon. I had to admit that I felt a teensy bit of pity for them: for they unfortunately had met me, which got them into a _huge_ mess.

Oh, how will I ever break the news to them that the human girl they love was a mere figment of my boredom and acting skills? I laughed; it was a bit funny.

I stumbled out of the forest and into a large clearing after a good, long search. No kitsune, no glitter vamps, and no success. And where was Damon? He had been here a few seconds ago, and now he was… gone?

"Damon? Damon!" I didn't care to search with my mind. In my daze of thought I had lost track of him, and now he was gone! I was going a bit crazy! "Damon! _Damon!"_

"He's not here, sweetheart," a voice called to me. No, it couldn't be… the voice in my head was speaking aloud now? "No, I'm in the tree, you idiot." I looked up, feeling lost and confused. Damon, where are you, I'm going mad…

"No, you're not going mad, Isabella," he told me. "I'm seriously right here." And then I saw _him_ – directly 10 feet above my head.

"Where is he–" I started, but was so rudely interrupted.

"_Not here;_ how many times do I have to say it?" he sneered at me, laughing in mockery of me. "Once again proving that you are nothing without him."

"Shut it, Shinichi," I retorted. "You don't know me!"

"I think I do," Shinichi countered. "You showed me exactly how lost and lonely you were without that _stupid_–"

"Damon does not control me. Now where is he?" I shouted at him, angry as hell. So it was him who had been here all along?

"Not here," he said simply, looking me over. I growled at him, and he smiled back.

'You look just the same. You never changed that revolting hairstyle, did you? I bet your sister still has it too," I stated, letting the sarcasm bleed through my tone. "Where is she? Misao? I never did like her – or you, for that matter."

"Really? _Katherine_ thought my sister and I were just _fantastic_. I remember her specifically saying that you and I would be _perfect_ for each other," he taunted me, and I almost jumped at his throat right there. But I didn't – I knew I wouldn't win alone, and he had to know where my Damon was.

"Then Misao tried to kill her," I recalled after a small pause. "Such a _terrible_ memory you have for someone so _obsessed _with ones."

"And that's how I know you," he started over, "to be exactly who you are. Selfish, whining, insecure, rebellious, conceited, and completely–"

"_Really_ not interested. I'm getting married, Shinichi. You were just a _fling_. Get over it!" I screamed.

"What the hell is going on?" I heard from behind me. My face lit up and I turned around to see Damon. But he didn't look too happy at all to see me. "Who the _hell_ is this and why is he 'just a fling'?"

I frowned at him. "That is–"

"I'm the hell Shinichi, thank you very much. And you're the hell Damon Salvatore, and this is the hell Isabella Rosalini," Shinichi purred smoothly. I scowled at him, and turned back to Damon.

"So you're the kitsune," he whispered. "But would someone please care to tell me why the kitsune is a '_fling'_?" I cringed at Damon's harsh words to me. I can't remember the last time he yelled at me.

"D-Damon, please! It was a, a long time ago, but I always loved you, you know that–" I began stuttering. But he turned his accusing gaze away from me to the forests behind him. What was he thinking? His mind was shut off completely from mine.

"Don't talk," he snarled, and started walking away. I was behind him in a flash, and I grabbed his arm.

"What is wrong with you?" I questioned, and I looked up to his face. There was something off, something un-Damon going on there, he would act like this… He shoved me off of him and like that, was gone into the forest.

I dropped me arms to my sides, defeated. I stared out in front of me, hoping somehow that he would reappear, and apologize, and kiss me, and assure me that everything was fine, and maybe even kill Shinichi…

Shinichi… oh my god. Kitsune could manipulate people and even vampires, control them and make them into slaves…

I turned to Shinichi angrily, with my teeth bared menacingly. "What did you _do_ to him? Answer me!" I yelled.

"Nothing, my dear. I guess he's just mad at you for cheating on him," he scoffed at me. "Maybe you should think twice about fidelity before you come looking for me."

I lost it. I jumped up into the tree next to him and grabbed the collar of his grey t-shirt, pulling him closer. "Listen here, you pathetic little douche bag. You undo whatever magic spell you put on him, or take back whatever you may be using to control him, because that wasn't–"

"_Sì, c'était Damon. Tu es très bête!"_ Shinichi countered in French. Ha, how stupid of him. That was the wrong move. I released his shirt and slapped him.

"I'm _Italian_, not French! _Isabella Rosalini,_ remember? Doesn't that sound Italian to you?" I questioned.

"You know, there's some famous person these days named Isabella Rossellini who's also Italian," Shinichi informed me, smiling mockingly at me.

"What did you do, google me? Way to be a total stalker; you better pray that your sister doesn't find out," I warned him smugly. "Your fascination with me might be harmful to your health."

Shinichi laughed. "You are a home wrecker, aren't you? What you did to those Cullens was hilarious! Oh, that's right - Katherine told me where I could find you a while back. I caught up to you in Forks on your first day of high school. You're a great actress, so dramatic," he added.

"Katherine's dead now. My sister killed her," I told him.

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "What a loss to society… Wait, I saw her earlier today! She's not dead, you liar."

"Yes, she is dead. In fact, the sister that killed that bitch a few years ago is the one you saw this morning. And her name's Elena, FYI. They're look-alikes, but polar opposites."

Shinichi thought about his for a moment. He looked up, and then back at me again. "Well, it's been so nice talking to you again," (_Not_, I thought to myself) "but I have places to be. Goodbye, my angel." And thank the lord, he was finally gone.

I jumped down out of the tree, and sank down to the ground. I reclined back against the tree, and then I started to cry.

Shinichi had done something to Damon, I was sure of it! Why did I ever let go of him, let him leave? I knew he would be around, and would definitely come back soon – for me, or whatever else he wanted.

But until then: Would Damon speak to me? Would he even be home? Would he even be Damon at all, or just Shinichi's play toy? Would he have flashes of being himself occasionally? Would he be all right in the end? Is Damon the only one?

I knew that the last one wasn't true. Shinichi and Misao were infamous for destroying whole towns and cities. Shinichi possessed the boys somehow, supposedly with these little creatures that took over his victims and turned them into his slaves. Misao would make the girls go mentally insane. And they were here just because of me, ready and aiming.

I cried even harder, my arms wrapped around my legs and my head resting against my knees. I should probably go home soon; someone might even be out looking for me if Damon had already come home. Was he possibly himself again?

I stood slowly and took off for my home.

I arrived home and realized the hour – nearing midnight. Everyone was most likely asleep on in their rooms, as all lights were out and it was near silent inside. I didn't bother with the front door – I just jumped up to my room's window and squeezed inside. My room was empty, silent, and as dark as the night outside.

I turned on the dim lights and wiped away my tears and makeup in a mirror. I didn't bother changing, I just laid down on my bed and stared at the roof as more silent tears streamed down the sides of my face.

I was alone. I was frightened. I was losing hope fast. Here I was, Isabella Rosalini, feeling scared and lonely. Maybe I should never have left Katherine in the first place. At least then I wouldn't feel like it was all my fault.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N::: **_Once again, the URL to vote for me in the 2010 FanFiction Grammys is:_** http (colon) (double slash) www (dot) fanficgrammys (dot) webs (dot) com (slash)!!!** Please vote if you haven't already! Thank you so much, I love all of you guys! _Shout-outs to everyone who votes for me!!!_

**!#$%^&*()_+¡™£¢∞§¶•ªº–≠⁄€‹›****ﬁﬂ‡°·'—±**

**Isabella**

The morning came slowly for me. My eyes lids never closed once, never even feeling heavy to me. Some parts of the night I wept silently, while others I just sat there, moping and wallowing and trying to think of anything that could get my life back in its place. No Cullens, no kitsune, no drama. It seemed impossible to me.

As the day finally arrived, I looked out the window to see that there was no sunlight – the sky was dark and overcast, and the air was freezing cold. It was bound to snow – a showing of my frozen heart soul. Everything outside was now icing over, just like I was.

But I was Isabella Rosalini. Strong, confident, and always in control; drunk at the wheel. Making a mess with complete grace and authority. I was me – not some sulking, emo high school named Bella Swan. I had to stop acting like her and ask myself what I would do in this situation.

I finally stood up and straightened out my shirt. I wasn't in denial anymore. I wasn't sobbing my heart out anymore. I was just going to be me and start looking. Nothing too complex - just searching, and for no one in particular. Anyone I found would work: Damon, Shinichi, or even Misao. I was bound to find someone if I just focused, I was sure of it. By tomorrow, everything would be fine.

I changed my clothes into something more appealing – skinny jeans and a low-cut tank top. I wasn't affected by cold and was possibly searching for two men who loved me - I couldn't hurt to look fabulous, it might even help me.

Without any further ado – a word to my family, a snack, and other preparations – I hopped out the window and to the frost-coated grassy ground, taking off into the ice-covered evergreen forest before me. I ran at near lightning speeds between trees, roots, bushes, and rocks. I smelled the air, begging it for any familiar scents I could follow. I smelled nothing at all, giving me no trail, no leads, and no new hope. I could only believe in myself and keep going. The hours went by, the trees all looking the same, and me smelling me own scent all over some of the places I searched.

After a time, I was getting so hungry. The smell of the small animals around me was more appealing than it had been a few days ago. I couldn't believe that I was actually considering it, but I was practically lost and had no clue were I could find a…

Blood. I smelled it, finally, and not all too far away. I was so thirsty, who cared it I killed them? I had to drink something, and fast.

Moments later, I was in a tree over a clearing – a familiar one at that. I looked around, recognizing my surroundings as where I had found Shinichi last night. I looked to the exact spot where I had last seen _him_, my dream, where this heartbreak had begun… and what else did I expect. There he sat, leaning up against the tree I had cried upon last night.

I couldn't believe my eyes. My hopes soared up; my eyes widened and sparkled with joy. I had found him! I just wanted so badly to jump up and down, squealing, and then hug him and kiss him, oh, I did! But I… couldn't. I knew I mustn't.

So I just simply hopped down from the tree, not making a sound, and crept up slowly behind him. Not even he would be able to hear me at this level of stealth and concentration. And I just stood behind him in pure silence, watching him. He absentmindedly ran his fingers through the grass, getting his fingers covered in wet frost crystals. He stared straight ahead into the trees, but I didn't know if he was really looking at anyone or anything. Then he suddenly through his head back against the tree hard and moaned in agony and anger

"Fuck this! Fuck everything! Fuck me!" he shouted up at the sky – or the tree, I wasn't quite sure about the victim of his profanity.

Through all of this I hadn't moved. I had realized a few things, though: Damon was angry, Damon was annoyed, his shield was up so that I couldn't get any readings on his mind, and I was alone with him for the first time in nearly a whole 24 hours. The last realization of mine had me devastated. Our separation, the uncanny feeling of being afraid of him – all of it was devastating.

Damon's head still rested back against the tree. His hands now clenched fistfuls of cold, wet grass in their lethal grips. I could very easily imagine them around someone's neck at the moment. I internally giggled at this, remembering the time Damon had tried to strangle Stefan when I was nine, but his hands wouldn't fit all the way around his brother's neck. And then, to my utter shock, I giggled aloud.

That was all it needed to light the fire I'd put in motion the moment I saw him. It was inevitable that I would've gotten his attention anyway eventually. But the moment those small sounds left my lips, I was stricken with a confidence. It was my fiancée we were talking about here, not some murderous stranger. I felt no need to brace myself as I watched him slowly turn his head around towards me. But what I saw then, I really wasn't expecting.

His eyes were surprised, unbelieving, absolutely bewildered with delight. He looked at me as if I wasn't real and he couldn't believe I actually existed. The disbelief in his eyes was different, but it was better than blank loathing, betrayal, and hatred.

"Isabella?" he whispered my name, slowly as if he were tasting the word on his lips. It must've been pretty sweet, because he repeated himself, "Isabella?"

In one fluid motion, he was standing and I was in his arms. "Damon, Damon!" I cried, returning his embrace. I couldn't say any more words; I had just missed the touch of his sculpted body, the presence of his soul.

Now Damon froze, and pulled back to look at my face. His expression was pissed, infuriated. Umm, bipolar much? What the hell was wrong with him?

"Where in hell were you last night? You just disappeared, and you weren't at home, and then the stupid fox decided to come find me tell me you were 'gone'! What the hell, Isabella?" Damon shouted, now grabbing my forearms and shaking me a bit. Wait, I wasn't gone last night! We saw each other…

"Damon, what are you talking about? I saw you last night, and I spent the night at home, and you were gone under the impression that…" I had to stop myself before I finished. He didn't remember, did he? Damn Shinichi, he had taken Damon's memories away!

"What are _you_ talking about? Isabella, if I didn't know you better, I would seriously guess that you were an _idiot_. You were gone all last night, and I seriously thought you had run off with that thing!" Damon sneered at me. I kept a straight poker face as he demeaned me, ranting about my intelligence. But I was deeply worried – he still wasn't himself. If he were himself, he would be asking me directions to Shinichi so he could go kill him.

This wasn't my classic Damon I was talking to.

This was a semi-possessed Damon, as weird as it was.

"I'm… sorry, babe," I whispered absently as I looked up and around me. Was Shinichi here? He was dangerous, and so was Damon, but they were no match for me in my current state. This wasn't playtime, not a time for losing battles.

"Seriously, there is something wrong with you; something's up. Tell me," he said, looking more concerned than before – but that still wasn't very concerned at all.

I looked back to Damon. _What would I do?_ Those words flashed through my mind, and nothing else. No more incentive was needed here. I raised my hand slowly, still staring at Damon, and then I slapped him. Damon's head whipped to the side with the unexpected impact. I could see immediately that I'd hurt him with all my force. I pulled my hand back and examined it closely – it was a bit reddish now, and stung in the slightest. I barely noticed in my heated anger.

"Damn it! Isabella?" Damon's eyes were wide with worry and surprise. A few seconds passed, and they filled with an unrivaled fury. He opened his mouth, but I slapped him again. I laughed, bitterly, this time in all my amusement. It was really too bad that Damon had to suffer along with Shinichi, but I had enough nerve.

"This is just too funny! You know, I can't reason with you right now, but if Shinichi would care to show his face, that would be just totally dandy! Now wouldn't it, Shinichi?" I called out, squeezing my eyes shut and giggling some more.

I realized it would probably be a smart idea to open my eyes. Blindness didn't help in certain situations. I opened them to see Damon staring at me like I was mad. He had it backwards, unfortunately.

"Do you need some serious mental help? What the hell have you done with my girl?" Damon spoke softly, as if I were mental.

"No, she's just in love," that voice called. We both looked up; it had come from the trees. There was nothing to be seen, no Shinichi, no nothing. "Very lovesick. Sick, sick," it called once again, but there was no one to be seen but Damon in front of me.

"Shinichi? It would be really cool if you would _actually show your face_ here," I spoke sarcastically. "Quit being the coward you were born to be and–"

"My brother is not a coward!" a more feminine, less familiar voice called out now. I looked to Damon, who was still scanning the treetops behind me. I looked behind me too, but there was nothing there.

Then I got hit in the back with… something.

I spun around and tried to bite whatever it was that was attacked me. I felt the scratches in my back, fingernails that ripped through my clothing and unscarred skin, drawing blood. I hissed in pain, biting my lip with my sharpened teeth and drawing even more of my own blood. I spun around and saw her lying on the ground where I had thrown her off of me.

"Misao, you bitch! Not cool, this is designer brand! Italian! Damn you," I complained menacingly.

"No one tells off my brother like that," she sneered, her black and red hair falling into her face. Her clothes were the complete opposite of dull and plain, and her eyes were wide and murderous.

I laughed bitterly again. "Oh, this is about that? I thought you wanted me dead because Shinichi's more in love with me than he is with you." I started walking slowly towards her. "And I knew you'd show up if I told him off. You little idiot," I mused. "You wrote your own death sentence."

I picked her up by her bright pink shirt collar, lifting her off her feet and up into the air – she was practically the height of a third grader, not even five foot. She glared at me, and I just smiled. "I'm doing us all a favor by killing you, remember that," I told her simply. "Just a little reminder. Tootles."

I was about to snap her skinny little neck until I help another hand on mine. It was large, strong, and cold. It gripped me tightly, painfully, and nearing giving me a broken neck.

"Let go," I said. "Damon, let go!" But as I said that, I realized it wasn't Damon trying to strangle me from behind. "Oh, Shinichi!"

"You say my name a lot lately," his voice whispered against my neck. That voice was getting really annoying lately. But to my surprise, he net go of me.

"Smart decision for you, bad one for her," I informed him, turning my head minutely so that I could see him. Misao was whimpering weakly in my grip, looking to her brother for solace too – just a very different kind.

"If I kill you, you can't be mine," he said, looking into my eyes. His were dark and deep, kind of like Damon's, but Damon's were bigger, and brighter too, in a way. "And I'm not that stupid."

"You look kind of stupid," I told him. "You really should try a different color in your hair, you look atrocious." I looked at him with a less sarcastically bitchy expression. "Where's Damon?"

Just then, all the sweetness returned to my life. Shinichi was literally socked in the face by an arm that shot out of nowhere, and then Damon emerged as the arm's owner. His face looked pained, but he looked at me and smiled. _I'm trying,_ he sent me in his thoughts. _Hurry and we can get out of this hellhole of a forest._

I beamed at him, but then he nodded towards in front of me… Misao! Oh, right! Sparing details, I basically snapped her neck and took off from her dead body and unconscious brother. And I took off with my Damon, to our home.

No one was at home; it was a school day afternoon, and they probably all figured that Damon and I were fine. They didn't even know anything that had happened. Oh, if only they did. Matt would go completely mad, but not as mad as Stefan.

Damon and I finally made it up to our window and into our home, away from any dangers of sorts and alone. I looked to him nervously; it was time for us to talk. Was he all right, did he know how to control himself against Shinichi?

"Damon?" I whispered again that day.

"Isabella," he responded, turning away from me and looking back out the window and the icy, frozen world. "What going on with me?"

"Shinichi. He's been controlling you, and taking your memories away! Oh, Damon, damn him for what he's done to you!" I cried out, exasperated. "How are you feeling? What do you remember?"

Damon shook his head, still not looking at me. "I'm fine," he said, his voice low and rigid.

I frowned, my eyebrows creasing together. "Talk to me, Damon, seriously. How are you feeling?" I walked up behind him and placed my arm on his back. "Damon?"

He spun around, looking at me with wide, hurt eyes. "I feel like I'm going crazy," he whispered in near silence, and then his lips came down on mine. He kissed me hard, his lips molding to mine and moving quickly. His urgency and intensity had me grabbing for anything I could as he pushed me backwards and down onto our bed. He was being rough and demanding, and I wouldn't be one to argue tonight.

We could just tell our family in the morning.

~*~*~*~

It was late now, as I lay on Damon's chest as he slept soundly. He was exhausted, physically and mentally. I knew he was fighting for his sanity with Shinichi, for control of his own mind.

Shinichi was still out there, most likely very vengeful for his sister. More ruthless, more infuriated, and now vengeful. Of course, he was after me in the end, no matter who he took down in the process. But the outcome would be much different than he planned for it. Did he honestly think that trying to kill my family and those around us was a good way to win me over? That wasn't happening.

I would fix this tomorrow. Hopefully by then, the rest of Rochester won't have burned down in my new enemy's fury. And hopefully, maybe Damon would have his head back to himself. If so, maybe he could go to school with me. Heck, he'd go anyway just to get out.

_All in the morning…_ I thought as I drifted off into a heavy, much needed sleep. _I would fix this all in the morning._

**!#$^&*()_+¡™£¢∞§¶•ªº–≠⁄€‹›****ﬁﬂ‡°·'—±**

**A/N::: Book fans, I am changing this up a bit. Consider it AU, but I don't like some stuff in the new 'The Return' trilogy, so I'm changing that up. No weirdo monsters or cutting or other dimensions. Capiche? **** Good. **


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